The Music that Makes Up A Life
by BeautifulInsanity13
Summary: My title sucks, I'll probably change it soon. This a total Rose/Scorpius love story, with lots of hilarity and a smidgeon of angst.
1. Prologue: The Day I Decked Malfoy

First day back after Christmas holidays, seventh year. I'm wandering the corridors, trying to find my mates; classes are over. I turn into a near-empty corridor, to see Jacob Nott and Peter Mulciber hanging a third-year Gryffindor in the air by his ankles. The contents of his bag were strewn across the floor, his face was bright red and he looked like he was about to cry.

'Put him down!' I yelled. They looked up and grinned when they saw me coming.

'As you wish,' Mulciber gave me a mocking bow and flicked his wand, sending the boy crashing to the ground. The boy scrambled to get the contents of his bag together. Nott grabbed him by the back of his shirt, half-holding him off the ground.

'I said put him down,' I reached for my wand, which was tucked into my ponytail, but someone else took it before I reached it. I spun, fists up in the 'Guard' position that Teddy had taught me years ago, and found myself looking into the smirking face of Scorpius Malfoy. 'Give me my wand back.'

'You know, I don't think I will.' By this point, Nott and Mulciber were interested in us enough to let the third-year scramble off.

'Give me my wand back _now_,' I said quietly. It was a trick I'd learned from years of living with my mother; if you say something quietly and simply, but with the force of retribution behind it, people are much more likely to listen.

I listened; I could hear a shift of cloth as Nott snuck closer to me from behind. Malfoy was good; he barely flicked his eyes over my shoulder, but between that and the sounds, I knew exactly where he was. I crouched and pulled his leg out from underneath him, so he fell on his back, winding himself. I kicked his wand away from his hand and turned back to Malfoy. Mulciber had disappeared to God-knows-where; he's a Prefect, and if he gets in any more fights, he gets his title removed.

So it was just me and Malfoy. 'Malfoy, it's not funny. Give me my wand back.' My fists were still up, with my feet in fighter's stance and every muscle tensed. I knew that before he could so much as twitch his wand hand, I'd have him doubled over making bubbling noises.

'You know, it's kind of a pretty wand,' he said, waving it around in lazy circles.

'Quit fucking with me, and give me my bloody wand back!' I was beginning to get angry, but I forced it down; I didn't actually want to hit him.

'Goodness. Such _language._ You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.' He smiled scathingly.

'No, you really don't. Remember, we tried that one in first year?'

'I just have the faintest memory…'

'Look I'm just trying to get my wand back. And if you don't give it here, I'll slug you.' He laughed, thinking I wasn't serious. 'Five. Four. Three. Two. This is your last chance. No? One.' I twitched my hand like I was bringing it up, and he flinched. Then he colored with embarrassment at being got. 'Gotcha.' I said, and sank my fist into his face; I felt the bones of his nose break.

He staggered backwards, then started at me, forgetting the wand. He aimed a swipe at me, which I dodged, then smacked him neatly on the temples with the little knob of bone between my hands and the insides of my wrists. He dropped like a stone. I reached down and plucked my wand out of his hand. 'I'll have that, thanks.' I looked down, and thought about when he woke up, with a broken nose in an empty corridor, and I felt bad. So I pointed my wand at his nose and said 'Episky.' It was kind of creepy, watching the cartilage mold itself back into shape as it healed. I walked to the end of the corridor and waved my wand at his prone form. 'Ennervate,' I said, and then booked it out of there.

And that rat bastard sold me out. He went to the Hospital Wing looking like that, and he told McGonagall what I'd done after he'd been cleaned up, but he made it sound unprovoked. So now I was cleaning the corridor that he'd bled on, without magic, as my punishment.

Now, since I have a couple of hours while I clean the corridor, I'll tell you about our history, beginning with the first day of first year.


	2. Beginnings

**First Year**

I kissed my parents and brother goodbye at Platform 9 ¾, to Hugo's obvious dismay

'Rose! Quit being such a girl.' I just laughed and ruffled his hair. I was going to Hogwarts!!

I looked around to find Al, but he was in a serious discussion with Uncle Harry, so I got on without him. Then doors started slamming all along the train. Al jumped in and Aunt Ginny shut the door behind him.

We leaned out the windows to wave goodbye. Oddly enough, lots of other people on the platform and the train were looking at our parents, too.

'Why are they all _staring_?' demanded Al, looking at the curious students.

'Don't let it worry you,' said Dad. 'It's me. I'm extremely famous.' We all laughed, even Al, whose anxiety seemed to be gone. He looked so excited, and I couldn't keep the grin off of my own face.

The train began to move and I felt my heart leap as we waved goodbye. Our parents walked along beside the train as it picked up speed, and we kept waving until the train turned the corner and we lost sight of them.

I settled back into my seat, grinning from ear to ear. Hogwarts!!

Victoire, James, Dominique and Indy (Charlie's daughter, same year as James, but more on her in another story) all came to see us at some point, to offer advice (or, in James' case, to try and scare us. It didn't work.) Indy taught us how to fix broken things with magic (which she said had come in handy during her first year, but warned that it had disastrous results when used on bones)(In my sixth year, she made the amendment that the disastrous results extended to broken hearts as well.) The ride took just the perfect amount of time, not so long that we got bored, but not so short that you didn't have the time to really enjoy it.

Not very long after we disembarked, I was standing in front of the entire school, waiting to be sorted. Since I was DEAD LAST, I had a lot of time to worry about which house I would be in. I knew what I _wanted_; Ravenclaw or Gryffindor. I actually thought it would be worse to be in Hufflepuff than Slytherin.

It seemed to take years. I watched as Al was Sorted into Gryffindor (Yay Al!) and a billion other people being Sorted into the four houses. I looked around the room as they were. At the Gryffindor table, I saw Victoire smack James on the back of the head, then smile and wave at me. At the Ravenclaw table, Indy held up her crossed fingers.

Finally, I was the last person there. I walked up to the front with my head held high. I knew that, whatever house I was put in, I'd do my best and make my family proud. I sat down on the stool and the Sorting Hat muttered in my ear for a minute, then shouted 'Ravenclaw!'

I felt myself grin as I walked towards the Ravenclaw table. Indy gestured to an empty seat beside her, halfway down the table, and I went to join her. But when I was almost there, I stumbled over something and went sprawling. I turned to see a pale first year with white-blond hair and his foot stuck out in the aisle, laughing his head off. My face was burning and I felt like I was about to cry, I was so embarrassed.

Indy came to my rescue. She picked me up and dusted me off, then leaned down so her face was on a level with the boy's. 'If you ever touch my cousin again, _ever_, I will hunt you down and kill you so hard you'll die to death.' The pale boy was at a loss for words. 'Got it?' he nodded, and she stood and walked away, taking me by the arm and bringing me along with her.

About a week later I ran into him again, this time he had poured water all over Al. I ran over and dragged away the sopping Al, who looked like he was going to either hit Malfoy or cry, and I wasn't sure which. Malfoy was still standing there laughing, and one of his friends slapped him a high five. I left Al standing there and ran back to Malfoy, absolutely furious.

'You are a pig. You're vile and evil and cruel, and absolutely _loathsome_!' I lowered my voice. 'And if you touch my cousin again, I'll…, I'll…I'll…' I searched for a punishment horrible enough for him.

'Stutter at me?' he smirked.

'No. I'll drop you in a pit of poisonous snakes. Then you'll be with your own kind.' And I turned on my heel and stalked back to Al, seething with anger.

And so it went. Each of us became determined to outdo the other in every way. We both snuck out at times to practice flying and worked ridiculously hard in all of our classes to try and be better. I enlisted the help of Indy, who was in her second year at the time. She thought I was crazy, but she helped me with Transfiguration, which I found insanely difficult. Damn Malfoy, he was excellent at it.

One day in March, a day when the crocuses are beginning to bloom and spring seemed to have come overnight, we were all outside enjoying the good weather. Al and I were wandering in a lazy circle around the lake, when Malfoy stepped out from a copse of trees.

'Malfoy,' I said curtly.

'Weasley, Potter,' he replied, his voice icy, but when we tried to walk past him, he blocked the path.

'Move,' I said, not looking at him.

'Manners, Weasley,' he said, smirking.

I looked him in the face. 'Move before I hex you into jelly.' My voice was calm and level, but my hands were shaking.

'You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, Weasley.' He sounded amused.

'Actually, you don't.' I said, knowing this for a fact.

'I don't know about that.'

'I'll bet you…' I reached into the pocket of my robes and pulled out some money. 'Three galleons, six sickles and eleven knuts.'

'Fine. I'll meet you in the courtyard in an hour.' He looked extremely confident.

'See you then.' I brushed past him, towing the slightly stunned Albus along with me.

When we were out of sight of Malfoy, Al seemed to recover. 'What in the world came over you?'

'I knew I was right. Easy money. And it got rid of him, didn't it?' I was extremely nonchalant.

'Yeah, for now. I have homework to do, and you have honey and vinegar to get a hold of. Lets go.'

An hour later, I met Malfoy in the courtyard.

'Malfoy.'

'Weasley.'

We stood facing one another, hands on our wands, in case the other tried to pull something. I smiled a little as I thought of Muggle westerns. He gestured to a spot under a tree in the middle of the courtyard, and I took it, crossing my legs. He sat across from me, leaving lots of room.

'We'll keep a tally for fifteen minutes. No counting the same fly twice, ones that die in the honey/vinegar count. No cheating.' Malfoy looked shocked.

'Me? Cheat? You think that of me? I'm hurt, Weasley.' I wanted to punch him in the face, but I refrained, and ignored him.

'On the count of three, take the top off of your jar. One, two, three.' We both twisted off the tops of our jars.

Let me tell you, it is not as interesting as it sounds. It was an extremely slow competition, which consisted of sitting stock-still under a tree in the courtyard, not speaking or moving, barely breathing, as not to scare any flies that might come. We got lots of funny looks, and James came along to laugh at me, until Dom shooed him away. (Thank God for that girl.)

Slowly but surely, flies came. A couple alighted in Malfoy's honey, but more came to hover over my vinegar. (I've never gotten why flies spend so much time hovering over potential food. Why don't they just land? They don't live long, they might as well spend the time well. It's kind of a metaphor for humans and love, if you think about it.) Trying to count all the flies was hard, since they moved too much. It had been twelve minutes, and my vinegar was swarming. The flies buzzed at my head, and the vinegar fumes stung my eyes.

At fourteen minutes, Malfoy stuck his hand under my nose. It contained the promised Three galleons, six sickles and eleven knuts. I looked at him.

'Fine, you win. The vinegar attracted more flies. Don't rub it in.' he looked a little embarrassed.

'Fine, I won't, if you leave Al and I alone. We've never done anything to you, stay away from us.' I stood up and stalked away, but inside, I was elated at my victory.

**Second Year**

The second weekend back to school was Ravenclaw Quidditch tryouts. I'd been practicing all summer, and I thought I was ready. When I saw all the other Keepers lined up at tryouts, I faltered a bit. It was an important job, one mistake could lose us the game, and the others trying out were all way older and bigger than me.

Keepers were tried last, and my nerves mounted as I sat in the stands with the other hopefuls, most of them in sixth and seventh year.

Indy made Seeker, and I agreed with the decision; she's brilliant, just like her dad.

Chasers were Carmody Evans, a third year, Rowan Alfort, a fourth year and Chase Rawlings, a second year and the brother of the Captain. Beaters were Christina Warbeck, a sixth year and Alex Rawlings, a seventh year, who was also team Captain.

Finally it was time for Keepers. Rawlings called us up alphabetically by last name. It was one of those times when I wish I was Al, just not to have to deal with this. I had to sit through torture while everyone else was tried. I could feel my blood pressure rising under the stress. My heart was pounding and my hands shook. When I was finally called, I could barely stand; my knees had turned to jelly.

But when I kicked off, my anxiety was left on the ground. I flew up high for a second, then turned and rocketed back down, taking my place in front of the goalposts. I tuned out the jeering of Slytherins watching, who had their tryouts in half an hour, and the cheers of Al and Indy, who were in the stands cheering me on. The sky and the ground and the people and the noise melted away until there were two things left; me and the Quaffle.

Four times it came at me and four times I caught it safely between my palms. I got ready for the last shot, knowing that if I caught this one, I'd make it. I took a deep breath and balanced myself, the broomstick equivalent to spreading your toes. I saw the Quaffle leave Rowan's hands, spiraling off to my right. I dove forwards, too fast; I nearly shot past it. As it was, I caught it between my hands and my side, and the speed of it nearly knocked me off of my broom. But I had it! I was Keeper! I did a victory lap of the stadium, elated. Now I could prove myself. Now they'd know how good I really was.

In June, we had our final match, Slytherin versus Ravenclaw. (James was absolutely furious, but he'd been slacking at Quidditch practices, so serves him right.)

**Seventh Year**

First day of seventh year, I was caught off guard by Malfoy holding the door for me. After that, I avoided him.

It was a fairly average beginning to a year, with a few small changes; I was Head Girl now, and Al was Head Boy. It was nice to have another Head who I actually liked, which is a change from what apparently usually happens. **(FanFic writers of this, you know who you are.) **It was weird not having Indy there; usually we were like best friends, and now she was off travelling in a Muggle van with her boyfriend who I like heaps. Sometimes, I'd get a picture of them with their blue VW Kombi, standing on a cliff with the bluest of blue New Zealand ocean's behind them, or of them by a campfire at night, laughing or dancing while some other hippie played guitar. They looked happy, and I was glad, but it was weird. It was sort of like, now she's an adult, and I'm left here to do kid stuff.

But I adjusted. I played Quidditch, and hung out with friends. Louis and I grew closer, since we'd both been really close to Indy, and we missed her. I did spend a lot of time by myself, though.

Al was seeing a girl for all of September and October, a real bimbo. Lou and I nearly threw a party when he ended that one. Sha dated a guy, too, a really nice one from her year named Thomas something, for a while, but broke it off in December, something about him being too normal (??). Around that time, Lily got together with her friend Asher, and Al got crazy happy for some reason. I needled him about it, but he just shrugged and went back to his studies. He spent a lot of time off studying in December, come to think of it. Hm.

Christmas at the Burrow was, as always, insane. Sha seemed distracted, but I put it down to her adjusting to having a father-figure around again, for the first time since she was five.

On New Years, Sha, Lily, and Al stayed out later than everyone else, Sha and Lily later than Al. Sha slammed into the sitting room of her house just as Luna announced that she was pregnant. I heard her 'Fucking brilliant,' and raised my eyebrows at her retreating back. I'm still wondering exactly what that was about.


	3. Songs and Scrubbing

**Seventh Year again.**

By this time, I had stopped fuming at the rat bastard. I knew he'd be like this; he's never given me any reason to believe that he's human before now, so why should it change? Actually, I like the work, sort of. There's something calming about a simple, rhythmic bout of manual labour. It clears the head.

I scrubbed, feeling the slippery soap between my fingers. I sang as I worked; rock mostly, but also blues, jazz and ska. Halfway down the hallway, I found myself singing 'Drops of Jupiter', one of my favourite Muggle songs.

'_Tell me, did the wind sweep you off your feet, did you finally get the chance to dance along the light of day, get back to the Milky Way?'_ I sang_._

'_Tell me, did Venus blow your mind, was it everything you wanted to find, and did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there?' _When I realized that another voice had joined mine, I jumped so bad I nearly fell over. I looked to see Malfoy, of all people, standing next to me, looking awkward.

Okay, either I was totally off in my own world, or he's _silent._ I sat back on my heels and sighed at him.

'What do you want, Malfoy? Come to gloat?' he didn't answer, so I went back to my scrubbing. But a minute later, I realized that he'd Conjured himself a brush and was scrubbing a dirty patch a few feet away, tie and jacket a little ways away, shirtsleeves rolled up. I looked at him, surprised, but went back to my scrubbing. I had homework, after all.

It went three times as fast with two of us working. **(A/N: I don't know how this works, scientifically, but it does in reality.) **Five minutes later, after we'd covered a couple of feet, he spoke again.

'I didn't sell you out.' His tone was quiet and even, the voice of someone stating a fact.

'What do you call it then?'

'I didn't, honest. You did a decent thing, Weasley. I was just going to go wash the blood off and continue on my merry way, but I ran into McGonagall on the way to the bathroom, and I was planning to say that Nott and I got into a scuffle, you know, boys will be boys. But before I could open my mouth, the guys were off about how you'd done it.' His calm tone hadn't changed. I worked in silence for a minute, wondering whether to believe him. Then I decided that it didn't matter.

'Thanks. And I would say I'm sorry that I broke your nose, but I'm really not, so it would be dishonest.' What? I wasn't going to _lie_ about it.

He chuckled. 'It was a good punch. For a girl, that is.'

'If you think you're so much better, try me. I could beat you in a fight.' I stood, and he laughed. 'You think I'm not serious?'

'I couldn't hit you. You're a _girl._'

'That'd make it an even match. What are you, scared?' I was riling him up. I was actually curious if I could best him. I wouldn't ever admit it out loud, but I like fighting. There's something strong and powerful to it.

'Weasley, I'm not going to fight you, no matter how much you insult me. Put down your dukes and get back to cleaning.' I put my hands on my hips.

'So even if I call you a lily-livered chauvinistic vagrant son of an Ashwinder, you're just going to keep scrubbing that floor?' I asked.

'Yeah, something like that. I might insult you back as I do it though, you weak, cowardly, bloody pathetic Keeper, who was born in a bin.'

'Bastard.'

'Bitch.'

'Motherfucking son of an incestuous snake.'

'An incestuous snake?'

'Damn straight.'

We both felt better after that. We kept scrubbing. After a while, I fell back into the rhythm of it, and began to zone again. Twenty minutes later, I heard…_singing._ It was Malfoy.

'_Johnny wishes he was famous, spends his time alone in the basement with Lennon and Cobain and a guitar and a stereo. And while he wishes he could escape this but it all seems so contagious not to be yourself and faceless in a song that has no soul.'_ I joined in, quietly.

'_I remember feeling low, I remember losing hope, I remember all the feelings and the day they stopped. We are, we are all innocent, we are all innocent, we are, we are. We are, we are all innocent, we are all innocent, we are, we are.' _He stopped for the next verse, while I sang '_And she's been losing faith in what she knows, hears the music hits on the foreclose, thinks of surgery and a new nose, and the galleries of war. And while she wishes she was a dancer, and that she'd never heard of cancer, she wishes God would give her some answers, and make her feel beautiful.'_

And then we sang together again; '_I remember feeling low, I remember losing hope, I remember all the feelings and the day they stopped. We are, we are all innocent, we are all innocent, we are, we are. We are, we are all innocent, we are all innocent, we are, we are.' _

After that, we looked at one another, startled.

'That's one of my favourite songs,' he said.

'Mine too. I love them, even though they wrote their stuff years before we were born.'

'Powerful stuff. Have you heard Thief?' I nodded.

'It's one of my favourites, but so sad. I really like Somewhere Out There.' I was struck by a sudden thought. 'Are we actually getting along?'

'No, absolutely not. I was just about to disagree; I think that Somewhere Out There is absolute rubbish.' And we fell silent for the rest of the hallway.

When we finished, I rose (heh, heh, my name's Rose and I rose!) and stretched the kinks from my spine. I turned to Malfoy, awkwardly.

'Thanks. For helping me out, and for not telling McG.'

He looked awkward as well. 'Thanks for breaking my nose, and for fixing it.' Then he turned and high-tailed it out of there, leaving me shaking my head in an empty corridor. I picked up my jumper and shoes and wandered over the freshly cleaned floor, singing under my breath.

'_Last time I talked to you, you were lonely and out of place…'_


	4. Sickness and Confusion

**Disclaimer: You know, I always picture JK Rowling on , posting terrible slash fic under a nom de plume, giggling as she writes her disclaimers.**

**Because if I were JK Rowling, I would not envision this, I would probably do it, you are allowed to draw your own conclusions.**

**That being said, why are you so sure that I'm not JK Rowling and I'm just fucking with your head?**

**I am writing this because I am desperately sick, and I'm sick and tired of it. But, unlike Rose, I'm allowed to wear my pyjama pants to school. And I do.**

I sat in the common room that night, doing my homework and being markedly confused. Malfoy, listening to Muggle rock? Malfoy, _singing?_ Malfoy, thanking me?

Now, if this had been any other year at Hogwarts, I knew that just then, Indy would plop herself down next to me and say something along the lines of 'Has that Malfoy boy been giving you trouble again?' because she's like that; she always listens, and she always calls him that Malfoy boy. I used to think that it was italicized, but was informed of my wrongness last year. It's underlined, she said. Well excuse me.

Anyhow, Indy wasn't there, and this isn't a television show, so I didn't get a letter from her at that second. Instead I sat there for a while, extremely confused. Then I shook my head. I knew that it wouldn't do me any good, so I gave up wondering. He was probably just ill or something. I finished my homework and put it into my bag. By this time, it was very late, so I snuck silently into my dormitory and went to bed, my hands still smelling of soap.

The next day when I awoke, I looked out the window to see a wall of blinding white; a blizzard was raging outside my window, flurries of snow too thick to see your own feet. Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures, Astronomy and Potions were cancelled, due to snow for the first three and the sub-arctic temperatures of the dungeons for the fourth.

This knowledge was imparted to us by the notice board in the Great Hall, unfortunately, I was already up and wide awake, even though my first class was Herbology. Damn. I could have used the sleep, too; I'm coming down with a cold.

Instead, after breakfast, I stretched out very near the fire in the prefect's common room. **(A/N: Everyone always makes it the Head's common room, and I like to shake things up a little. I hate being predictable.) **I turned on my wPod **(Oh yeah, I went there.)(But no, really, how do you expect me to write a music-centric Rose/Scorpius fic without some way to play music? Get back to me on that one.) **and plugged it into a set of speakers that ran off of magic. And why not? It's not like there was anyone else there. Except, after I'd been there for fifteen minutes, someone did come in. I was so absorbed in what I was writing that it took a couple of minutes to register that Scorpius Malfoy was sitting on the sofa. I ignored him, turning up my music a couple of notches to drown out the sound of his scratching quill.

One of my favourite songs came on; Survive, by Rise Against. I turned it up a little louder. Rise Against is brilliant; best music in the world to write to. I continued scribbling out the importance of split seconds.I heard Malfoy clear his throat behind me. I ignored it, and a minute later, he did it again. I whirled around.

'I'm sorry, is my beating of the tattoo of creativity to the soundtrack of socially relevant angst rock too loud for you?' I asked.

'No, actually. It's too quiet. For Merlin's sake, girl, turn up the music!' I was a bit startled, but I did, and the words of Paper Wings filled the room, echoing off of the vaulted ceiling. It was kind of nice, being in the room with someone else, but not feeling awkward or frustrated, with no need to talk. I put away my writing and just lay there on the floor, eyes closed, listening to the music.

That day whiled itself away to the soundtrack in my head, as did the next. The blizzard showed no sign of letting up. Thursday night I went to bed early with a headache. Friday morning, I woke with a nasty cold. My head was stuffed up, my throat was scratchy and I had chills. I opened my eyes and tried to groan, but ended up coughing.

I really did not want to get out of bed. You know those days? When you're sick and you just want to stay in bed, but you have a life that needs getting on with? This is one of those days.

From under the covers, I groped along the floor for my slippers and jammed them onto my feet, then put on a bra under the tank top I was wearing and put on a sweater. When these new clothes had warmed under the blankets, I got out of bed. To hell with the dress code; I was wearing my pj's to breakfast.

I wandered out of my dorm and down to the Great Hall, shuffling in my slippers. I dropped onto the bench and swung my fuzzy-slippered feet over the bench. Louis looked at me and cocked his head sideways.

'Sick?'

I started to answer, but I began to cough. He waited patiently for my answer; 'Sicker than sick. Pass the teapot.' He obliged, and I poured myself a cup. Louis put an orange in the middle of my plate.

'I know you hate eating when you're sick, but the Vitamin C will help. Eat the orange.' I began peeling it. 'Why don't you go to the Hospital Wing?'

I shrugged. 'Because I hate the feeling of smoke coming out of my ears. I'd rather just be sick.'

'Have it your way, then. Keep warm, and take another orange in your pocket.' He, having finished his breakfast, left for his first class. My class was cancelled, so I sat there, curled up miserably drinking tea and eating oranges as the Hall emptied. I started to cough, and my eyes began streaming. I was groping blindly in my pockets for my hanky, when someone thrust theirs under my nose. I took it and wiped my face. I looked up, to see Scorpius Malfoy sitting next to me, a polite distance away. I held his hanky out to him, but he waved me away.

'Keep it. I have tons, way more than I'll ever use.' He rolled his eyes. 'My mum is so motherly, it's suffocating.' I laughed, then stopped when I realized that I was.

'Why do you keep doing that?' I demanded.

'Doing what?'

'Being _nice_ to me,' I spat out the word 'nice'.

'Would you like me to stop?' he asked. I ground my teeth.

'It would be less confusing, for sure. First, you're a total ass to me for six years, but now you're being nice and rude simultaneously.'

'I enjoy confusing you. When you're confused, you get these cute little wrinkles right _here_,' he said, pressing a finger to my forehead. Then he got up and walked away. When he was about ten feet away, he stopped and turned. 'Oh, and nice pj's, sickie.' And with that, he left for good, leaving me more confused than ever.

I coughed and sneezed my way through Arithmancy (impossible with a stuffed head), Transfiguration (just plain impossible), and Charms (where I had to listen to a bunch of Gryffindor boys debating on why a unicorn had to be a horse; 'If it were a camel with a horn, would _you_ call it a unicorn?' 'No, I'd call it a camel-corn. Or maybe a uni-camel' 'Then why do we call a horse with a horn a unicorn? Uni-corn. One horn. Has nothing to do with horses whatever.')(As Rose hits stuffed-up head against desk repeatedly.) Lunchtime rolled round and I sat down at the Ravenclaw table between Louis and Chase Rawlings, one of the Beaters on the Quidditch team. Louis didn't say anything, just poured me a bowl of chicken noodle soup and plunked it down in front of me. To that he added yet another orange and a glass of water.

'Thanks a million, Louis. You're the best cousin ever.' My voice sounded extremely scratchy.

'Sick?' Chase asked. I nodded and took a sip of my soup, wincing a little as the heat hit my sore throat. 'Why don't you go to the hospital wing?'

I shrugged and continued to drink my soup. In the afternoon, I had another hour of Charms, this time listening to the idiots discussing which girl in the school had the nicest boobs. I'm not even going to go into it; I'm scarred for life, and I see no reason for you to be, too. After that, I retreated to Ravenclaw Tower for my pj's and the warm fire. I attended dinner in pj's, with a lovely knitted afghan (courtesy of my Grandma Molly) wrapped around me. Louis continued to be an absolute darling, bless him. At the end of dinner, when I was refilling my teacup to take up to the Tower with me (the house-elves take them if you leave them in the common room) (These house-elves, of course, are free and empowered, courtesy of my mother), Louis picked up my nasty, snotty handkerchief from the bench, where it had fallen, with two fingers. He squinted at it, then pointed his wand at it. It was suddenly clean, and he held it properly. 'Ha. I thought so.'

'What?' I asked. He held the handkerchief so that I could see the monogram; SM in curly writing.

'What are you doing with Scorpius Malfoy's hankie?' he wasn't accusatory, just confused.

'He lent it to me this morning; I'd left mine in my dorm. I'd completely forgotten that it was his.' Louis tucked the hankie back into my pyjama pocket, and asked no more questions. I was grateful for this; I was too tired to think, never mind reason. I headed up to Ravenclaw Tower and fell asleep, incredibly early at 7:30, and slept the whole night through. The next morning, I was still incredibly ill.

The lesson of all of this? Don't get sick; it's a bitch.


	5. Hating Mondays

**Disclaimer: I am not JK Rowling.**

**My readers should be very glad that this chapter isn't emo, because I had a terrible weekend.**

**We are now entering a freefall plunge and only Monday will tell.**

I slept most of Saturday, only leaving my dormitory for tea, soup, and oranges. I did my homework curled up in bed, cursing colds. Sunday I felt a little better, and even ate some sandwiches; I was sick of soup and oranges.

When I woke on Monday morning, I wanted to kill something. I spent most of the day sniffling and cursing under my breath; 'I hate festering, ranky, puling, head-clogging sarden colds. I hate dragging my sorry sniffling hacking bum through classes. I hate drafty halls and stupid boys and boring teachers and people who make you eat oranges and soup.' By the time I had reached my last class, Transfiguration, I was thoroughly fed up with existence. I had had to run back up to Ravenclaw Tower, since I'd forgotten to get my book, and I knew I was late.

'You're late, Miss Weasley.' McGonagall did not look impressed.

'Sorry, Professor.' I looked around. Someone else was sitting in my usual seat, and the only free one was next to Malfoy. I pulled a face, but sat down next to him. McGonagall continued to dictate notes on Cross-Species Transfiguration in Mammals as I pulled out paper, quill and ink. Malfoy offered his partial set in a whisper, and I thanked him, copying them down quickly, and catching up. I copied them word-perfect, but didn't understand a single thing about them, not one word. My head ached, and everything was sort of fuzzy. Stupid effing colds. When McGonagall handed around kittens, I looked blankly at my notes again. I knew the incantation, but I really didn't understand what I was supposed to do. I pointed my wand at the kitten and muttered the words, but nothing happened. I tried again, much to the same result. I looked around. Most people were having little or no trouble with it. Malfoy was turning his kitten to a puppy and back again with lazy flicks of his wand. I tried again, to no result. McGonagall, who'd been walking around helping people, came over to me.

'Miss Weasley? Would you perform the spell for me?' Great. Now I'd been late, and I couldn't do it. This was going to be a huge deduction from my Head Girl rep. I pointed my wand at the kitten, knowing it wasn't going to work, and muttered the incantation. I didn't even look, but waited for the reprimand.

'Excellent. Ten points to Ravenclaw.' My head snapped up, and I got a face wash from the yapping puppy on my desk. McGonagall swept away to go torture somebody else. I stared at the puppy. I knew it wasn't me, so how…I turned to look at Malfoy.

'You.' I said. He shrugged, not even looking at me. 'You did that. Why?' I was very confused. It wasn't like Malfoy at all; his usual MO was to watch me fail at Transfiguration and then laugh at me as my face burned, drawing everyone's attention.

He shrugged again. 'Because I could. D'you want a hand?' I thought about this for a moment.

'That depends. Are you going to rub it in?' He laughed.

'No, I won't.' He switched the puppy back to a kitten, and began to teach me the theory. I coughed and sneezed through the whole lesson, but by the end of it, I could do the spell. When the final bell rang, signifying the end of the day, we all rose and left the classroom. I turned to head to the Common Room, but Malfoy took my arm and began dragging me in the opposite direction.

'Malfoy, what're you doing?' I asked, trying to loosen myself from his grip, but to no avail. He was _strong._

'You're just being stubborn, to the detriment of your health and education. You're going to the Hospital Wing to get cured, and don't argue.' I argued all the time, while thinking _Have I ever heard Malfoy talk like that? "To the detriment of your health and education"? Since when does he know words more than one syllable?_

We reached the Hospital Wing and he dragged me inside. Madame Pomfrey, the niece of the previous one, was tending to a third year with a long scratch, and I tried to get away while I still could.

'Malfoy! This isn't your business! Why do you care? You _hate_ me; I thought you'd be glad to see me suffer!' He ignored me until that last sentence. Then he turned his head to look at me, his grip slackening on my arm. I wrenched it free.

'You think that?' he was confused.

'Yeah, I know that.' I was confused, too. Of course he hated me; he'd spent six years proving it, hadn't he?

But we were pulled from our confusion by Madame Pomfrey, who'd bustled over. 'What seems to be the problem here?'

Malfoy answered before I could open my mouth. 'Miss Weasley here has quite a terrible cold, and was wondering whether or not you could give her something for it?' Madame Pomfrey looked at me for a moment, then went to a cabinet. _Miss Weasley?_ I mouthed at him behind her back, and he shrugged.

'Here we are,' the matron said, and handed me a beaker full of liquid. It looked like very hot coffee, steaming so much that it almost looked like it was smoking. I looked at it like it was poison, and Malfoy laughed.

'Don't be like that, it's good for you!' the matron tutted. Under her eye, I couldn't do anything else, so I knocked it back. It felt like my throat was on fire. I coughed and my eyes watered. I stood there coughing and waiting until I could see again. As my vision cleared, I wiped my face. I took a deep breath, and realized that I could again. Madame Pomfrey nodded decisively and took the beaker back. 'There we are, right as rain. Off you go!' I walked out, marvelling at how such a terrible thing could work such miracles.

'Told you so!' said Malfoy behind me. 'Your ears aren't even smoking!'

'Nobody likes a know-it-all,' I said, and it came out clearly. It was funny to hear my voice after four days of croaking.

'Admit it. If it weren't for me, you'd be totally miserable.'

'I wouldn't! I'd just be sick.' He looked at me seriously.

'Rose, you were miserable. And sick. And feeling like shit. And whatever other phrase you want to use for totally unhappy and ill.'

'Since when am I Rose?' I asked. First that "Miss Weasley" shit, and now this.

'Since never. It just slipped out, Weasley. Now skedaddle. I know that there's a great big pile of homework out there just waiting for you, and I have one of my own.' And he turned down a staircase towards the Slytherin dormitories. I headed towards the Prefect's common room. On the way there, I ran into Sha Lovegood.

She looked blankly miserable, and was wearing black. I've known Sha her whole life, and I know that she only wears all black when she's sad and denying it.

'Sha? What's up?' She looked at me blankly.

'Not much. You?'

'Nothing. Why do you look like that?' I asked, concerned.

'Like what?'

'Like a ghost full of miserable aimlessly wandering the hallways.'

'I'm not wandering aimlessly!' she objected adamantly. 'I am posting this letter to my mother.' She held up an envelope, addressed in the most carefully perfect writing I have ever seen. 'Then I am going to get ready for Quidditch practice.'

'All right then. If you say so.' I gave her a hug. 'Bye.' She bid me goodbye as well, and we went our separate directions. I set up in the mysteriously empty Prefect's common room. A while later, Al came in.

When we were little, me and Al were best friends, like each other's other half. Yin and yang. Peanut butter and jelly. Frankenstein and Igor. Ish. You get the general idea. Anyways, since then, we've grown apart, but I can still tell how he is, even if he's not telling me. Like, all through December, he was ridiculously happy, but around New Year's, he became totally miserable. He seemed fairly miserable still, which is not something I like to see.

'Al? Shouldn't you, as Captain, be getting ready for Quidditch practice? You know, to set a good example?' he looked at me oddly.

'Rose, I don't have a practice tonight. Why did you think I did?'

'Erm, because Sha said she was going to go get ready for Quidditch practice? And you two are on the same team?' I was confused. Again.

'She practices every night, I think. At least, one of the practice Snitches is signed out under her name every night we don't have practice. I dunno, we don't really talk much, her being two years younger and all.' He looked slightly embarrassed. I considered pursuing the subject further, but let it drop. He'd tell me when he was ready. I went back to studying, still extremely confused.


	6. Chase

Malfoy and I circled for the next month, being polite to one another, but not especially kind. I continued to try and get information from Al, who was being exceptionally hard to crack, which was unlike him. Sha continued to ghost around the castle, doing the same things everyday and getting thinner and thinner. I was worried about her, but she wouldn't tell me anything either. I noticed that she wasn't really talking to Asher, Lily, and Hugo any more.

One day in early February, I was finally fed up with all of the secrets. I went down to the Great Hall for lunch and found my lovely little brother sitting with another Gryffindor boy. I glared at the other kid, and he scarpered.

'So, brother-o-mine, what's up with you guys and Sha?' I asked, grabbing a sandwich. No one would object to the Head Girl sitting at the Gryffindor table with her little bro.

'What d'you mean?' he asked shiftily.

'I mean, that y'all aren't talking. What's going on?' I asked. Yes, I said y'all.

'Nothing's going on. I don't know. It doesn't really have anything to do with me. Go ask someone else!' he got up and left the table.

Okay, so _that's_ a touchy subject. Reminding myself to keep an eye on Saoirse, I moved to the Ravenclaw table and ate my lunch.

That afternoon, I had Charms. I sat with Chase Rawlings, a fellow Ravenclaw and Prefect. We ignored the Gryffindor boys, and actually had a good time. He was funny and uncomplicated, a nice change. At supper that night, Chase sat with me, which garnered a raised eyebrow from Louis, which I ignored. I can sit with whoever I bloody well like.

The next evening, when I was studying in the Prefects common room, Chase came and sat down next to me with his own studying. We quizzed each other on Charms for a while, until we were sure we both knew all the material, and then we fell into chatter about Quidditch (he's a Beater). We fell into a sort of awkward silence, and then he spoke.

'So, there's a Hogsmeade trip next weekend,' he began. I could see where this was going. 'On Valentines Day. And I was wondering if you'd like to go with me.' I considered it. I liked him, for sure. He was sweet and simple. So I agreed. We talked for ages more, until midnight, when I fell into bed with a smile on my face.

I sort of glowed through the next week. I spent lots of time with Chase, ignoring the disgusted looks we got from Malfoy. We became good friends, and by the time the weekend rolled around, I was completely comfortable around him.

Saturday morning, I woke up and just lay in bed for a moment, marvelling at how wonderful I felt. I rolled out of bed, already wide awake, and grabbed shower things. I bolted the bathroom door and looked at myself critically in the mirror.

I didn't really have a huge opinion of what I saw. I had perfect skin, my one vanity, from years of avoiding make up and twice a day face washing since I started at Hogwarts, practically. My coppery brown hair was pretty, sort of layered in waves, a little past my shoulders. I was built like my mum, but with my dad's height; I was 5'10". My skin was fair, the result of being a redhead, with a light dusting of freckles across my nose and cheekbones, so light that you could only see them up close. I looked like a Weasley, but not completely so; I fit in with the clan (unlike Indy) but I wasn't picked out as a Weasley walking down Diagon Alley. I didn't like my eyes; they were too blue, like cornflowers or the sky. Surrounded by too-dark lashes in my pale face, they looked weird and out-of-place.

I laughed at my silliness and showered, then dressed in jeans, a green cami under a black sweater, and black boots to keep my feet out of the slush. I put a scarf and gloves in my coat pockets and carried my coat with me to breakfast. When I reached the Ravenclaw table, I slid in next to Chase. He poured me coffee, and I thanked him, but didn't drink it; I never drink coffee, not since that over-caffeinated incident in fifth year. I like my ability to speak without gibbering, personally.

I had a cinnamon bun for breakfast, because there is nothing, I repeat _nothing_ better than a Hogwarts cinnamon bun. **(A/N: If any of you have had fresh Keats Camps cinnamon buns, you understand. Actually, if you have, message me and we'll have a chat about their wonderfulness.) **After breakfast, I bid Lou goodbye (he just raised one eyebrow a hair at me; he hadn't spoken a word that morning) and we headed out into the cold February morning.

When we reached Hogsmeade, Chase led the way into Scrivenshafts, because he needed a new quill. While he searched for the world's most perfect quill, I delved into the corner full of books. I found one that I wanted to read right away: The Rise and Fall of the Darks Arts (Revised). My mum had the original, but I hadn't read the revised version, which included the return of Voldemort, the Battle of Hogwarts, and a great deal of other things, which made it roughly the size of a small building. I paid for it and asked for it to be sent up to Hogwarts, paying the extra for the pleasure of not carting it up to the castle, then joined Chase in his search for the perfect quill.

After that, we went to Quality Quidditch Supplies to ogle the brooms and buy some polish for Chase, then to a little teashop called Madame Puddifoots. (**I don't know how that woman stays in business, what with all the horrible fanfic encounters that take place there.) **He ordered us coffee.

There were doilies and pink things everywhere, and all the other girls in there were elegant and made up. I felt sort of awkward. Chase and I talked, about our families and stuff. When I listed my extended family, Chase's mouth dropped open.

'So let me get this straight; you're related to half of Gryffindor House, and your clan's insanity reaches down the Southern Hemisphere?' I thought about this for a moment.

'Yup, that sounds about right.' I fiddled with my full coffee cup, some confetti in lurid shades of pink floating on the surface.

He shook his head. 'Weird. And you're all that close?'

'We're about as close as you can be. Close enough that we're all _this_ close to killing one another all the time.' He didn't laugh. Tough crowd.

'It's just me and my parents at home,' he said. 'We spend holidays with my grandparents. Other than that, it's pretty quiet. I can't imagine how you could be in a crowd of people like that, in the middle of everything.'

'Actually, it's surprisingly easy to get lost.' I said.

'How do you get lost? It's not exactly like you read the map wrong in the middle of Christmas dinner and find yourself in Iceland.' Which would be a feat indeed, because Iceland is a large land mass across a large body of water (read: the Atlantic Ocean) and most definitely not contained within the Burrow, or the Potters', or even my house, although I can't speak for Hughie's room.

Anyways, I dropped it. If he didn't get that already, he might never, and that was all right. He finished his coffee (I hadn't touched mine) and paid, then we headed back to the castle. On the walk back up, he realized he'd dropped his glove. We went back for it, and we took a shortcut through a grove of trees to the road back to Hogwarts. He stopped, and so did I, and then he kissed me.

He wasn't an excellent kisser, but he wasn't bad, and I kissed him back, because I could, and he was kind, if a little slow, and fairly good looking. I put my arms around his neck and he put his hands on my waist and we kissed for a while like that, and then headed back up to the castle holding hands.

We spent the rest of the day in the common room, at either end of a couch, playing our feet against each other. After dinner, I studied in the joint common room, until he came and balanced his book on the soles of my feet, which faced the ceiling while I lay on my stomach on the floor. Then we studied together, and then just talked, me leaning against him, him playing with my hair between his fingers. I went to bed content.


	7. Malfoy in the Library with the Quill

Sunday morning dawned clear and cold. I headed down to breakfast without any particular enthusiasm. I slid into my seat at Ravenclaw table next to Chase, who poured me coffee.

'Hey, doll,' he said, kissing my cheek. I greeted him back, and added raspberry jam to my scone.

After breakfast, I went to the library, where I knew I would find Sha. I was not disappointed. That girl was sticking to a freakishly predictable schedule lately. Like, whoa.

'Sha?' her head jerked up.

'Hey, what's up?' she asked.

'Not much. How are you?' I was concerned; she looked very pale, even for an albino.

'I'm fine.' Her answer was automatic, completely not thought of.

'Sha, how are you _really_?'

'I'm fine, really,' she said. Then, she changed the subject. 'So, I saw you and Chase Rawlings at the Ravenclaw table this morning. Are you guys together?'

'Yeah, pretty much. It's one of those "we're not together yet, but give us another day or two" things.' She nodded, then bade me goodbye, as she had studying to do. She studies a lot. She ought to be in Ravenclaw, with brains like hers.

I turned away, to go sit at another table in another nook of the library, out of the usual run of people. I took out my books, and got another one I needed for reference from a shelf, then spread it all out on a table. I tried to study, but was too distracted by worry for Sha.

'You're not studying.' The voice was smooth and slightly mocking, a voice I knew well.

'It's really none of your business, Malfoy.'

'What's the matter? Worried about your boyfriend being in the stacks with someone else?' This was the Scorpius Malfoy I knew and hated, not the strangely kindly confusing creature who had been occupying his body of late.

'No, actually. I'm worried about my sort-of-cousin.' This threw him off guard; he was expected something witty and cutting, not the truth. He recovered quickly, though.

'How do you have a sort-of-cousin? Is that like a half-cousin, but more inbred?'

I looked at him. 'How do you have a half cousin? They're either your cousin or they aren't, end of story. But she's more complicated. She's my god sister as well, I suppose, but I grew up with her just like the others.'

'Why are you worried?' he seemed genuinely curious.

'She's been fighting with her friends and Al, and she's losing weight, and spending all her time with schoolwork.'

'She's not friends with Al?' I thought that this was a very odd sort of question.

'She is, I guess. They were getting to be better friends in the fall, but I dunno what happened. Al's been pretty miserable lately, I didn't want to bother him about that. I just wanted to find out why he's upset.' I fiddled with a curl, flicking it across my cheekbone, back and forth.

'They're the reason that the other is upset. Something happened between them,' he suggested.

'No, not them. Al's too…level-headed. Calm. And Sha's kind of…how can I put this…crazy. She takes after her mum, they're both a bit strange. They're kind of like this albino hippie crazy double team.'

'Albino? You mean the skinny one who used to be blonde?'

'That's the one. Sha. Short for Saoirse, Saoirse Lovegood.'

'I rode back on the Hogwarts Express with her. Stared out the window the whole time, didn't move a muscle or speak a word. Odd bird. Striking, though, even after getting rid of the hair.' I levelled a finger at him.

'You stay away from my cousin-creature god-sister thing.' It wasn't as good a threat as I've ever made, but it'll do on the basis that it was half a joke. He raised his hands defensively in the air.

'I wouldn't do anything of the sort. She's much too young for me, and besides, she's pining for your cousin Al there.'

'Okay, she's not pining for him, nothing happened there. You're an idiot of the noblest class.' He directed what he clearly thought was a winning smile my way. 'Did I forget to say annoying? Clear off.' I bent my nose back to my book.

'Ouch. Babe's got bite.' I shot him a look that would have peeled paint. He just shook it off. 'So, are you just not going to talk to me now?' he asked.

That was _exactly_ what I was planning on doing. And I didn't reply, obviously.

'Really? Not even if I say that I am the most handsome man in the world?' I held back my snort of laughter. He leaned in closer to me. 'You know what? I don't believe that.' I shot him a look. 'No, really, I don't. I actually suffer from low self-esteem.' I nearly busted out laughing, but held it in, which quite possibly shattered my ribs. Ow.

'It's really true.' He picked up one of my quills and started flipping it over and over in his hand, narrowly missing the tender flesh of his palm with the sharp nib, closer with each toss. 'I don't actually think that I'm smart, or handsome, or even mildly talented. Except for at this,' he said, gesturing to his quill tossing. 'You even have to admit, this takes a special sort of skill. Look at how high I can toss it and catch it perfect.'

He chucked the pen in the air, and I watched as it rose, five, seven, ten feet in the air, and then dropped, revolving slowly. He caught it in his palm, and I saw the wince of pain before his hand fell open, dropping the quill and revealing a long shallow cut.

I sighed and grabbed his hand. Placing my wand on it, I healed it. I'm not very good, so it left a thin scar, but it was better than nothing. I tried to drop his hand, but he loosely caught my fingers in his.

'Thanks, Rosie.' The nickname startled me into speech.

'No need, _Malfoy._ You owe me now. And _don't _call me Rosie.' I shook him off and stalked from the library.

As I stalked down the hall (gifted with my father's height, I am one of the few girls of Hogwarts who can stalk properly. Girls without legs simply cannot stalk, no matter how hard they try.), I thought about what Malfoy had said. Not about the quill tossing, about his self-esteem. It couldn't be true; he was a smarmy, cocky bastard, so why was I even thinking about this? I shook my head, ridding it of stupid thoughts, and continued to the Ravenclaw common room.

I threw myself down on a couch next to Chase. 'Hey, doll, what's got you so riled up?' he asked.

'_Malfoy_,' I fumed. 'He is _infuriating_. I'm just trying to study and he comes over and keeps bothering me.'

Chase shrugged it off and returned to his own studies. I remembered the crazy amount of homework I had and went to it.

The next week passed quietly. Chase made me happy, someone to kiss and cuddle. He wasn't exactly the fastest broom in the shed, but he was sweet, and I was contented with my life. Still, as the snow began to melt, I watched Sha. She was disappearing, becoming a small, black-clad ghost. I wrote to Indy in NZ, wondering if Sha had told her anything. The last Monday in February, I arrived at breakfast still half-asleep, tired from my late night studying. Chase gave me a quick kiss and poured me coffee, same as every morning. It was both sweet and annoying; nice because he thought to do so, but irksome that he'd not noticed that I never drank it. As I was heaping marmalade on my toast, the post arrived. I had two letters, one from Indy and one from James, to my surprise; James isn't much of a letter-writer.

I put them in my bag, since I had to get to class. I completely forgot about them until that Thursday, after supper, when I was getting my books in my dorm and they fell out of my bag.

Indy's letter was just full of chatter; how she was learning to play the guitar, these gorgeous butterflies she'd seen. She sent a picture with it, of her with one of the butterflies landed right on the bridge of her nose, flapping it's wings out to cover her face and then together again. It was a great picture, and she sounded really happy, but I felt a pang reading it, I missed her so much.

James' letter was a bit more of a shock, driving Indy's from my mind.

**Rosy-Pose,**

**Indy said that you were wondering what was wrong with Sha. **

**She was with Al, didn't you know? I guess they were like, completely**

**In love with each other, and then Lilykins found out and threw a right tantrum. Sha broke up with Al, and they're all right miserable. Fun, hey?**

**Anyhow, I'm doing pretty well, but still torn on what I want to do.**

**Hope you're well, I'll see you again at Easter.**

**-James**

**PS-George says hi too.**

Well bugger me. I had no idea.

And suddenly, I wanted to kill Al. Wanted to absolutely wrend him limb from limb for being such an idiot. I threw my books down and stormed out of the dormitory. I didn't even glance around the common room, just threw myself out of the door. I stomped down the winding staircase, fuming. I stormed through the hallways, not caring when I bumped people. Al wasn't in the library, but as I opened him in the joint common room sitting with Louis and Malfoy of all people. I stalked up to him, ignoring them.

'Albus Severus Potter, tell me that James is lying. Tell me that this is completely untrue. Tell me that you were not so infinitesimally fucking _stupid_ as to fall in love with Sha, our Saiorse Lovegood. Tell me that that isn't true.' I looked him straight in the face. He looked at his feet and mumbled something. 'Sorry, Albus, what was that? I didn't hear you.'

'I can't tell you that. I did.' He put his face in his hands.

'Al! How could you do that?' I groaned and fell onto the couch between Lou and Malfoy, still ignoring that.

'What, you mean that you think I did it on purpose? Just set out one day going "Oh, I think that I'm totally going to fuck myself over today, just for shits and giggles"? Fuck.' His voice was muffled by his hands.

'Al, have you got any idea of what this has done? You've caused this huge rift; everyone is miserable and I think that Sha is on some kind of hunger strike! Hugo won't even talk to me about it, Sha won't even admit that anything's wrong, and fucked if I know what's up with Lily and Asher! And you're sitting here with your friends, having a grand old time, when you've fucked everything up.' I put my own head in my hands, muttering curses. When I looked up again, I realized that Al was crying and Malfoy and Louis were looking at me, Malfoy astonished and Louis pleadingly. He gestured to Al and I sighed, then went over and put my arms around my silly, lovestruck cousin. I rummaged around in my pocket and handed him the crumpled hanky that I found there. He wiped his face with it and took a deep, shuddering breath. When he spoke, his voice was even again.

'Rose, how do I fix this?' he looked at me for help, and I realized I didn't have a clue. I took a deep breath, then another. 'Rose?' I put a finger to my lips to quiet him, then closed my eyes and thought for a minute. Fix this, how to _fix_ it. A minute later I opened my eyes.

'Al, you owe all of them. And me. And there's really nothing that you can do. I'll talk to Sha.' I sighed; once again, I was everyone's mother.

'Rose, I owe you a million. And I am really sorry that I screwed everything up.' He gave me a hug.

'I know you're sorry. Next time, don't. Fall for her if you have to, but tell me, for Merlin's sake.' He grinned sheepishly. I glanced at the other couch where Malfoy and Louis still sat watching us. Malfoy hadn't said anything yet, which struck me as odd. He and Louis looked at one another then back at me, movie-style.

'Did you hear that?' Malfoy asked, with a touch of awe in his voice. 'She _swore._ The head girl just completely bitched someone out.'

'Shut up, Malfoy. It's not the first time. I've been doing it to Al since the time when we thought 'Darn' was a bad word.' Al nodded agreement beside me.

'She's the only one who doesn't put up with my shit, other than Lou there, and he doesn't actually cuss me out, just raises his eyebrows and makes me feel like a total asshole.' We all looked at Louis, who shrugged and returned to his book.

Malfoy shook his head. 'I will never understand your family.'

'Be glad,' Louis's voice floated out from behind his book. Be very, very glad.' We all laughed.

I spent the rest of the evening with them, finishing homework due the next day and leaving the rest for the weekend, talking and laughing. It was surprisingly easy to get along with Malfoy with Al and Louis around.

**This chapter was like pulling teeth. No matter how much I wrote, it just wouldn't get any longer! It was maddening! AAAHHH!!**

**But now, I have a great sense of accomplishment, now that I've dealt with that strange phenomenon, no doubt brought on by excesses of cough medicine, because, although Rose has gotten over her illness, I'm still sick.**


	8. Wedding Talk

The next day, the first of March, I found Sha in the joint common room at lunchtime. I asked her what was wrong, pretending I didn't know, and it all poured out. When she was done, she just looked so sad that my heart went out to her. I sat down right next to her and put my arms around her and we just sat there like that for a very long time, missing our next classes (Charms, in my case.) After I'd sent a preferably happier Sha to her last class, I went to Neville Longbottom, whose class Sha had missed, and explained, without any specifics. Since he's her stepfather, he kind of got it. You know, just a little. Anyhow, after last class, I found myself waiting outside the fifth-year Transfiguration classroom for one Asher Patrick, former (and hopefully future) best friend of Sha Lovegood. When the class ended, he was in the middle of the mob coming out of the room, by himself, head down.

'Ash!' His head jerked up and he looked at me, then detached himself from the throng. He stood next to me and looked down; he absolutely dwarfed me, despite being two years younger.

'Hey Rose. What's up?'

'What's up is Sha. She's absolutely miserable, and so are you. Talk to her! She needs a friend.' He hung his head sheepishly. 'Now skedaddle. I know that there's a great big pile of homework out there just waiting for you, and I have one of my own.' He obeyed, and I realized that I was quoting Malfoy. I turned myself ninety degrees so that I was facing the wall and banged my head against it repeatedly. After a minute, someone tapped me on the back.

'Rose?' Louis said tentatively. 'Are you all right?'

I stopped banging my head. 'Abso-fucking-lutely brilliant.' We began to walk down the hall.

'What's up?'

'Oh, just that I'm babysitting the planet again. Its not a big problem, I'm just twitchy.'

'Mmm. Twitchy. Anyhow, on a happier note, are you looking forward to the wedding?' This was in reference to the next week's marriage of Victoire Weasley and Teddy Lupin. Remembering this, I smiled.

'Yeah, should be fun. And I think that the entire family has been expecting this since Victoire was conceived. And it probably didn't matter to the family what gender she was, or what she or Teddy wanted, so it's just as well that they fell in love.' Louis laughed.

'Looking forward to wearing a penguin suit and talking to rellies?' I teased.

'And what about you, making polite conversation in a dress? Rosie, if I hadn't seen it before now, I wouldn't believe it.'

'What's this about Weasley in a dress?' Malfoy said from behind me.

'Which Weasley, me or Rose?' asked Louis. 'Because personally, I don't fancy wearing one…' I laughed.

'_Rose_, then. What's this about _Rose_ in a dress?' Malfoy put mockery into my name.

'Well, _Malfoy,_ my cousin Victoire, Louis's older sister, is getting married a week tomorrow, and unfortunately, that means that I have to put a dress on.' I shuddered. As you may have gathered, I'm not much of a girly girl.

He looked me up and down. 'Nope. Can't picture it.'

'Now picture Louis in a tuxedo.' Malfoy burst out laughing. Actually _burst_, like he absolutely could not hold it in. Lou and I stared at him, baffled, as he stood in the middle of the corridor positively howling with laughter. Then, after a minute, he stopped mid-laugh and straightened up, completely straight-faced. He looked at me again.

'Okay, now I can picture you in a dress.' He mock-shuddered. I pulled a face at him.

'If I'm so ugly, why are you even here?'

'Because I'm enjoying the company of my good friend Louis.' He gestured at Lou, who pulled a face at him.

'Since when are we friends?'

'Since never. But hush. She doesn't need to know that.' Scorpius put a finger to his lips, no doubt to illustrate what 'hushing' looks like.

'_She_ already knows. It's not like it's a secret that Malfoy hates the Weasley/Potter clan. And as of next weekend, he'll be related to us. Very distantly related, but still.'

Louis cocked his head quizzically at me, but Malfoy knew what I meant and explained.

'My grandmother is Theodore Lupin's aunt on his mother's side. My mum is his cousin. What that makes me is something like a cousin. Second cousin? I think that's right.'

'Have you ever met him?' I asked.

'Nope. No idea what he looks like, even.' Louis and I grinned at one another.

'What he looks like is a…flexible thing. He's a Metamorphmagus.' I rummaged around in my bag for a second, then pulled out my journal, which has pictures and stuff taped in, making it a sort of collage-scrapbook-journal. I pulled the elastic off then ruffled through it, finding the picture I wanted. I held it out to him, pointing to Teddy. 'That's him.'

It was a photograph taken over Christmas, one of many taken at the Potters'. In it, blue haired Teddy was laughing, enjoying a drink with his godfather. I'd seen it plenty of times already, but what interested me was the look on Malfoy's face as he looked at it; his grey eyes held an almost hungry expression.

'Merlin, Rose, how long have you had that book? Since we were two?' Louis asked.

'Longer. It's magicked, so that its that small, but really has thousands of pages. Mum started it before I was born; she wrote in it every day from the time she knew she was pregnant until I was old enough to start writing in it on my own. It's got a picture of her from every day she was pregnant with me; you can see her belly grow as the pictures go, and then there's her holding me for years, and then me sitting on her lap as I get older. Every day up until I came to Hogwarts, there's a photo of us. There're some where she's so pregnant with Hugo that Dad's in the picture holding me, since I couldn't fit on her lap.'

Malfoy smiled, listening to me. 'That's sweet.' _Sweet? From Malfoy?_ Louis and I exchanged shrugs; Malfoy seemed not to notice. He handed me the journal. I flipped back through it to a picture I particularly liked, of our two mums when they were pregnant with us at a family function of some kind, enjoying quiet cups of tea at the kitchen table in our house.

'Look, Louis, there's us!' he laughed.

'You can see Victoire poking her head around the frame.' He pointed, and, sure enough, a small, silver-blond head poked around the edge, giggled, then ducked back into non-sight.

I put the journal away and we continued to the joint common room.

That night, I wrote a letter to Teddy. Why? Because I could.

The next morning at breakfast, there was some strange Hogwartian mosh pit. I chose not to ask.

On Tuesday, I skidded into Muggle Studies late, having been…otherwise occupied at lunchtime. With my lovely boyfriend, if you know what I mean.

So you can imagine, I was kind of lunchtime-make-out-sesh happy. That is, until I reached into the hat to pull the name of my partner for the assignment. Then my happiness evaporated like a raindrop landing on a Salamander; my partner was none other than Scorpius Malfoy, the world's most narcissistic git. Sitting there smugly in his chair in the corner, cleaning under his perfect fingernails with the tip of his quill, I ought to kill him. But I won't, because I don't want to have to do the project alone.

I threw myself into the chair next to him.

'Bitch,' he acknowledged.

'Asshole.' I replied. It was good to know where we stood again.

He raised one of his nearly invisible eyebrows. 'You're blocking the view.' He gestured to two giggling, big boobed blondes.

'Whatever. We both know that you've done them both, and they aren't very good, so let's get on to the project.' He sighed resignedly, but he knew I was right, as per usual.

'So, what's this project on?' Malfoy asked in a bored voice. I started to sigh with frustration, then stopped myself. He was just trying to piss me off.

'We don't _know_ yet. Since Professor Honeycutt is addicted to drawing things from hats, we'll pull two topics, and decide which one we want to do.' I set my books, quill and ink on my desk.

Professor Honeycutt finally came over to us and offered the hat. Scorpius ignored it, which I took to mean that I should draw, so I did.

'Slumber Parties and Hippies.' I nearly laughed out loud; two projects that would both be so laughably easy, I could do them in my sleep.

'Whatber Parties?' Malfoy asked.

'Slumber Parties. You see, sometimes, for fun, Muggle teenagers like to all go to the park and lie down on the grass and go to sleep.'

'Seriously?'

'No. But that was a brilliant look on your face when you thought it was serious.' He pulled a face at me.

'Haha. Hysterical, I'm splitting my sides. Now what does it actually mean?'

'Muggle girls get together and eat junk food and watch movies-you remember learning about movies?-and play games like Truth.'

'What in the name of Merlin's saggiest Y-fronts is Truth?'

'It's a game.'

'How do you play?' He seemed genuinely interested.

'You tell the truth.' He shot me a look.

'Funny enough, I'd figured that much out for myself, thanks.'

''It's harder than it sounds. First, someone asks someone else a question, anything they like. The asked has to answer the question, truthfully, or pass. If they pass, the person who asked the question has to answer a question. If they answer it, they win; if not, the game continues.' He thought this over for a moment, then shook his head.

'Man, that's diabolical. Trust girls.' He ran his fingers through his hair, then said 'Lets play.'

'What?'

'You heard me. Let's play.'

'No.'

'What, are you scared?' His grey eyes held a challenge, one that I couldn't turn down; it must have come in the Weasley genes.

'Of course not. You're on.' We shook on it. 'Not now though. We have to get started on our project.'

And so the day wore past. That night after supper, I was studying by myself in the Prefects Common Room, curled up on a loveseat. Suddenly, someone threw themselves down next to me so hard they sent me sprawling across the floor.

'Why'd you do that?' His grey eyes held a look of intense confusion.

I picked myself up from the floor. 'Hello to you too, scumball.'

'Not the time for it. Why did you get him to invite me to the wedding?'

I shrugged. 'Sometimes you do things just because you can.'

'But you hate me! You knew that I wanted this and gave it to me, even though you hate me!' He shook a piece of gold-edged paper in his hand which I recognized as one of the wedding invitations so painstakingly designed by Aunt Fleur.

I shrugged again. 'Family is family. Who knows, maybe you'll stop being an arrogant prick someday and we'll actually want you around. Y'know, if you get your head out of your ass.'

He ignored the jibe, instead just staring at the piece of paper in his hands. On the edge of the curly-scripted writing, I saw Teddy's scrawl, but I couldn't read it from this far away.

'I shouldn't go.'

'Of course you should. Look, as much as we…_dislike_ each other, this is more important. Teddy wants you there, you want to know, sorry, go, no, wait…You do want to know. You want to know, which is why you want to go.' I'm so clever. 'So go. You can leave with us on Friday, and stay at our place. My parents will be so busy that they won't notice anyone else is there. You can sleep in the guest room.'

'Really? You'll do that?' He looked surprised.

'Teddy is one of my favourite people on the planet. It's a sacrifice for him. I'll deal.'

'Right. We'll deal.' He grinned at me and held out a hand. 'Truce, for Theodore's sake. Just for the weekend.'

'Only if you stop calling him Theodore. His name is Teddy.'

'Deal.'

We shook, and so ended a very strange Tuesday.


	9. Gratitude and Ineptitude

Friday afternoon found me packing a bag for the trip home, as I'd been putting it off. Lily was sitting on my bed, bouncing up and down and talking a mile a minute.

'And so he was like "You know, right?" and she was like "Know what?" and he was like "I don't not like you". Like, can you imagine?' She was speaking of one of her Muggle books, some sort of romancey friendshippy thing.

'No, Lily, I cannot imagine.' Mentally, I went over the stuff I needed; toothbrush, hairbrush, notebook, my comfiest jeans, my favourite sweater, my wPod. I think that's everything.

'….and little green Martians from Mars have invaded and now Hugo's table dancing with them and…'

I must have zoned out. Oops.

'Where else would Martians be from?' I asked sensibly.

'Touché. But still, I feel that you're not listening.' She pouted.

'Lily, of course I listen to you. I am just riveted; every word from your overly-glossed lips is solid gold in my ears.' I buttoned my bag closed and shouldered it. 'C'mon. We're due at McGonagall's office in ten minutes.'

She picked up her backpack and followed me, still pouting. Al, Sha, Hugo and Louis were waiting for us in the corridor with their own bags. We headed to McGonagall's together, Lily keeping up the incessant babble, now to Sha, thank Merlin.

'Okay, could you guys please, please, _please, _I'm _begging_ you, be civil.' I'd already stressed this point all of Wednesday and Thursday, but I really wanted to drive it home. 'This is for Teddy. Be on your best behaviour, and he'll be on his, and it'll all be fine. And as for you, Lils,' I called over my shoulder. 'If you snog him, you will be in veritable _worlds_ of trouble, little girl.' She pulled her innocent angel face.

'Who, _me?_'

'You can't pull that one on me. Just keep that tongue inside your

mouth, and it'll all be fine.' I took a deep breath. 'It'll all be fine.' I reassured myself.

'You, m'dear, are a basket case.' Al slung an arm around my shoulders.

'I just…I want everything to be all right. I don't want to bring down the wrath of our parents.'

Louis put his arm around my waist. 'Rose?'

'Yeah?'

'Take a big breath in.' I obeyed. We continued walking. About twenty second later, Lou peered at me. 'And then you let it out.'

I let out the air I'd been holding. Whoops.

At this point, we'd reached McGonagall's office. Lou, Al and I disentangled ourselves and we all filed inside, where Malfoy was already waiting, leaning against a wall with his backpack at his feet. I sidled over to him.

'You look slightly green.'

'Shut up.' He did look green, and his lips were pressed into a tight, white line. I could tell that he was actually afraid. Not just nervous, not just a little scared, but truly afraid. Weird.

'So I told my parents that a distant cousin of Teddy's that I know from school is staying with us. That's true. They'll be at work still when we get there, and then they'll be at stags and hens tonight. Tomorrow's the wedding, after which they'll be smashed. Any time in there, if they see you around, keep your head down and they'll just see the hair and think you're Louis.' I smiled reassuringly at him, and he shakily smiled back. Y'know, I could get used to a scared Malfoy. It makes him into a decent sort.

McGonagall swept in, and we all snapped to perfect posture, a reflex. She greeted us all with a brief 'Hello Weasley, Weasley, Weasley, Potter, Potter, Lovegood, Malfoy, Malfoy? What're you doing here, Mr Malfoy?'

I opened my mouth, and words came out. Strange. 'He's a distant cousin of Teddy's. He's coming to the wedding. Teddy said he sent you a letter.'

She blinked at me, then shuffled through her in-tray. Finding the letter, she settled for 'Hmph. Right then, Lovegood.' She offered Sha the Floo Powder. Sha took some, yelled 'The Banana House!' and disappeared. Al and Lily were next, then Louis and Hugo, both to my house because Louis didn't feel like dealing with pre-wedding hysterics quite yet. Then I sent Malfoy, telling him the address. He whooshed off, then it was my turn. I took a pinch of the sparkling powder, thanked McGonagall, then turned to go. She stopped me with a hand on my arm.

'Yes, Professor?' I asked.

'That was a good thing to do. Your parents and uncle would be proud.' I flushed with the praise.

'Family is important.' She nodded, and with that, I stepped into the flames.

I spun through confusing green fire, seeing other grates flash past, feeling a bit panicked. Travelling by Floo always scares me a bit, so when I fell out of my own fire, I felt relief, even though I was undeniably falling. I would have fallen on the floor, but Malfoy caught me round the waist and steadied me, letting go quickly. I flushed and smoothed my jumper, trying to hide my embarrassment. This being civil was going to take some work.

'C'mon, I'll show you where you're staying.' I led him up the stairs one floor, then to the end of the hall. Since Christmas, Mum had painted the hallway, and there was a new painting of Luna's on the wall. 'This is your room.' I said, gesturing to the door on the right. 'I'm across the hall and the bathroom is across the hall one door to the left. Hugo's next to you, and my parents are next to him. I've got first dibs on the shower.'

'Thank you, Weasl-wait. It won't work calling you Weasley this weekend, because there's too effing many of you. And you can't call me Malfoy, because everyone in your family will instinctively jinx me into jelly before I can say 'Junior'.'

'Right. Then, for this weekend, and this weekend _only, _I can be Rose. But Scorpius is too long to say.' I pretended to be struck by a sudden thought. 'I know! What about Scorpy?'

'Don't even think about it. Lets just use a normal name, I dunno, Jude. Does that work? When you want my attention, you can just sing!'

'Jude works. It doesn't really suit, but it works. Have a good time settling in.' I turned round and opened my bedroom door.

Technically, I had two bedroom doors; one in the hallway and one at the top of the staircase, in the attic, where my room actually was. I'd moved there in second year, because I liked the view from the window up there, and my parents didn't mind, because then they had a guest room. So now, I have a bright, airy room at the top of a staircase, which I very much enjoy.

Right then, however, I was looking forwards to enjoying a shower.

When I was scrubbed clean of fireplace ash, I left the bathroom wrapped in a towel. Malfoy was sitting on his bed, reading a book, and raised his eyebrows at me. I could tell he was biting back a remark and I was glad for it. I blushed and hurried behind my door. I headed to my room, dressed in a long blue shirt, black leggings and thick wool socks in the same blue as my shirt. I descended my stairs and slid down the main stairs, then skidded into the kitchen, which is really what these socks are best for.

I was met by a rather amusing sight; Malfoy (henceforth occasionally known as "Jude") was standing in front of the microwave with an intensely puzzled expression, squinting at the writing on the buttons.

'Scorpius, what're you doing?'

'Well, Rose, I'm trying to figure out what exactly this is. And I thought we agreed on Jude.'

'Jude is only in company. And that's a microwave. We learned about them in Muggle Studies. It's an electronic box that heats up food. It's here for when Hugo and I are home and aren't allowed to use magic.'

'Gotcha. A microwave. All right. And Rose?'

'Yes?'

'Will your parents murder me if they discover me?'

I laughed. 'My mum, no. She's all about the magical co-operation. My dad, maybe. So maybe you'd best just steer clear of him.' Changing, the subject, I added, 'Stir-fry for dinner? What d'you think?'

'Sure?' he said tentatively.

'Right then. Can your tallness get the wok down?' I pointed my finger vaguely in the direction of the top of a cupboard.

'What's a wok?'

I pulled my head out of the fridge, where I'd been digging for veggies. 'It's that big metal bowl thing.' He took it down and put it on the counter gently. 'It's not very breakable.'

I grabbed carrots, bok choy, mushrooms, bell peppers and fresh noodles, and plunked the whole mess on the counter. I got out a cutting board and knife, then turned on the wok.

'Can you start cutting veggies?' I shifted things around in the freezer until I found a chicken breast. I put it on a plate and bunged it into the microwave to thaw, then turned to Scorpius. He was standing there looking at the mess of vegetation in front of him. 'Oh, for the love of Merlin. You can't tell me you've never even cut up veggies before.'

'I haven't.'

'You're about as useless as they come, you know that, don't you?' I took out a handful of mushrooms.

'I thought we were on truce.'

'We are. It's the truth, not a mocking lie.' He started to protest, but I stopped him. 'Don't even. Look here, these mushrooms you just cut in half lengthwise.' I supervised as he cut them, then pushed them off to the side. 'The pepper, you take the top off of like this, then cut out the insides and cut it into strips.' I left him to it as I checked the wok. It was still only medium temperature, and for stir-fry, it has to be hot. 'I'll be back in a minute, I'm just running upstairs for my wPod.' I said, and did.

I was only gone a minute, but when I came back into the kitchen, Scorpius was holding his left hand in a tea towel, which was already soaked in blood.

'Idiot!' I scrabbled in the magical remedies cupboard for a bottle of dittany.

'It's not that bad.' I located the bottle.

'Quit being macho and show it here.' Unlike many girls, I am not squeamish in the least. He held out the hand. I carefully peeled the towel away, revealing a cut straight across his palm, from the base of his index finger diagonally to the wristbone on the other side. 'Idiot.' I said again, and he made no move to deny it. I unstoppered the dittany with my teeth and held his left wrist so that he would flinch when I poured it on. I did pour it, and he tried to flinch, but I held his wrist there, cleaning and healing the entire cut, leaving only a thin scar.

'Thanks.'

'You're an idiot. And you need to quit hurting yourself. I'm tired of fixing it.' I looked up at him, and realized that we were standing very close. I stepped back, dropping his arm like a hot brick.

He washed the blood off his arm in the sink. 'You know, I'm sticking to this truce very carefully, whereas you're breaking it left and right.'

'That's because you give me so many chances to.' I went to check the chicken and realized that there was blood on my hands. I went to the sink to wash it off, elbowing him out of the way.

'You've given me just as many. Wandering through the house in a towel? I could have made thousands of comments. But I didn't, because I'm such a fucking saint.'

'A right paragon.' I took the chicken, now thawed, out of the micro. He stared at it as I put it on a separate cutting board from the veg.

'That's wicked.'

'You know, it's just a microwave.' He went to go pick up the veg knife again, but I threw out a hand. 'Nuh-uh. You've wrecked it. You get to go sit on that stool until dinner's done.' He went, sullenly.

I finished dinner, then sent him upstairs to get Hugo and Louis. We actually had a good time, and we all got along. I relaxed a bit. After dinner, Hugo and Louis taught Scorpius how to do dishes, which I found hilarious. As the one who'd made dinner, I didn't have to help.

And then it was time to go see the family.


	10. Family and Femininity

This time when I fell out of the fireplace, it was Teddy who caught me. I threw my arms around his waist and hugged him tight.

I started jabbering about how he was getting married, and to Victoire, and how amazing it was, and how much I'd missed him, and how was he, and then Scorpius came through behind me. He coughed, and I let Teddy go.

'Teddy Lupin, this is Scorpius Malfoy. Scorpius, Teddy.' Teddy held out his hand, and Scorpius shook it.

'Congratulations, erm, Teddy.' He looked so awkward that I had to smile.

Teddy thanked him, and they talked for a minute, until Louis took mercy on Malfoy and dragged him away to meet someone. I looked at Teddy, who was smiling at me.

'Thanks Teddy. It means a lot to him.'

'Any time. Family is family; Merlin knows I don't have much of it. Anyways, are you two together, or what?'

I laughed. 'Us? No way. We hate one another. We're just on truce for the weekend, and then we go back to hurling insults and hexing one another in the hallways.'

Teddy looked taken aback for a second, then he hugged me so hard I squeaked. 'You're a good person, Rosie-Pose.' I groaned.

'Still with the Rosie-Pose? I'm nearly seventeen, I'll have you know.'

'You'll still be Rosie-Pose when you're seventy. And I should really go greet my other guests.'

'Yeah, you should. One more thing, Teddy?'

'Yeah?'

'Please don't tell my parents?'

He laughed. 'Promise.'

I sighed with relief, and went to go see everyone else.

I hugged and kissed Victoire, and nearly tackled James in front of Fleur's Veela cousins, which he didn't thank me for. I just laughed and gave him a noogie. 'So, Jimbo, how're you?'

He grumbled and mussed his hair. 'Must you with the Jimbo, Rosie-Pose?'

'If you must with the Rosie-Pose.' My family has called me that for years, but they usually refrain while at Hogwarts. The older members of my family, not a chance. Teddy had started calling me that when I was a baby, and it had stuck.

'Whatever. So, _Rosie-Pose_, what's going on in your life?'

'Not much. School. Friends. Life. You?'

'I'm playing Quidditch for Ireland, didn't I tell you?'

'No, you didn't. How could you not have told me that?!'

A voice came from behind me. 'You know our Jimbo; he's a forgetful one, who never writes back.' I spun round.

'Indy!' I threw myself at her, hugging her tight, then held her at arms length for an inspection. She was tanned, even more so than usual, and her hair was shorter. She looked so happy.

'How's my Rosie-Pose? Is that Malfoy boy giving you trouble still?' She always refers to him like that, complete with underline. So does James, but Indy started it.

'Um, yeah, guys, about that Malfoy boy, as you so charmingly call him. He's kind of, um, here. And my parents can't know.'

James blinked at me. 'Can you repeat that?'

'No, you heard right. He's Teddy's second cousin or something, and he really wanted to meet Teddy, and I still hate him and everything, but we're on truce for the weekend, and he's staying at my place and my parents can't know, so you can't tell them or Dad'll kill him, you know what he's like.' They both nodded. 'And James, if you pick a fight with him, I'll kill you.'

'I won't if you don't want me to, Rosie. But, at least, can I prank him?' I shot him a look. 'Never mind.'

'That's right.' I took Indy's arm and we left James to his flirtations.

'So, how are you? How's the boyfriend? How's the Kombi?'

'I'm excellent, the boyfriend is excellent, the Kombi is named 'Aja'. Life is good, travelling is amazing. We've stopped for a while, and I'm teaching ballet to six-year-olds at a dance school. It's the most fun I've ever had, but I miss home sometimes. Mum, Dad, Saffron and Scarlet are around somewhere.' Six-year-old Saffron and three-year-old Scarlet are Indy's little sisters. The three of them look completely different, so it's a total mystery. Indy looks just like her mum: dark curly hair, light brown skin, same eye shape, but Indy's eyes are blue and her mum's are brown. Saffron has her mum's hair and eyes exactly, but she's fair-skinned like my Uncle Charlie, her dad. Scarlet has red hair and blue eyes, like a tiny replica of Lily. They're all drop-dead gorgeous, and it just isn't fair.

We wandered along, catching up, stopping every few steps to greet yet another family member, from little Scarlet to not-so-great-great aunt Muriel. The entire clan was gathered for a catch-up session, so that we didn't gab all the way through the wedding, presumably. Aunty Fleur was running around greeting people, arranging things, and occasionally bursting into tears and gabbling about how she couldn't believe they were getting married so soon, as if after six years of dating, three of those living together, it was such a shock. Especially since everyone had been waiting for it practically since Victoire was conceived, even during those two years at Hogwarts that they spent hating each other's guts.

It was good to catch up with Indy and laugh listening to her stories, but I also felt a bit of a pang, listening to her talk about people and places I would never know. She had this whole other life, one that I couldn't even begin to understand, and though we were best friends, I had to wonder what exactly that meant now.

When the crowd around the happy couple thinned, Indy went to give her congratulations to them, while I took a seat in the sun at the edge of the cliff. I watched the waves beat below me, completely lost in thought. I was thinking about my future. Indy was only a year older, yet she'd already seen so much. I had know idea what I would do or be, and though she wasn't sure of a career, she was so sure of everything else, of _who_ she wanted to be, and I was envious of that.

'Your family is _huge_.' The voice made me jump so hard I nearly fell off the cliff, and subsequently hurled myself away from the edge, sprawling on the rocky ground.

'Don't _do_ that,' I gasped. 'You nearly sent me plummeting to my death!'

'Oh, quit being such a drama queen!' Scorpius reached down a hand to help me up, which I ignored.

'I'm not a drama queen! I just would rather live the next month until my seventeenth birthday!'

'Whatever. Anyhow, I repeat, your family is huge.' He sat down next to me and dangled his feet over the edge.

'Yup. Huge, and absolutely insane. Just you wait, soon you'll meet my grandma Molly, the clan's matriarch. _Then _you'll have a reason to be afraid.'

He shuddered. 'I'd rather not, if it's all the same to you.'

I shrugged. 'She's not actually that bad. And she knits really cozy jumpers.'

'I've seen them. Gigantic letters on the front, as if you'd forget your own name.'

'Look around. In this clan, you might as well, especially if your hair is red like theirs.' We both turned to look at my ginger relatives.

'Point taken. But your hair is red too!'

'Not like theirs. It's more browner.'

'More browner?'

'Shut up, blondie.'

'Your hair isn't brown, it's copper. Theirs is carrot-coloured, yours isn't.' He reached out a finger to touch a curl.

'Huh. Copper. Interesting.' I kept my voice cool, although my heart was beating fast, for some reason.

He dropped his hand, colouring a little, and turned his face towards the horizon. 'Isn't this something?'

'Yeah it is. I stand on a precipice overlooking the ocean and I close my eyes. I can feel the water stretching infinitely in front of me; everything else is footnotes to that.'

He looked at me sideways. 'Did you just make that up?'

I shook my head, causing my curls to bounce. 'Nope. I made it up when I was eleven. I was here in the summer with Louis, but me and Louis were fighting, so I spent every day outside.'

He looked impressed. 'That's pretty poetic for an eleven-year-old.'

'My mum started me on books early. I was reading Keats at eight.' Changing the subject, I added, 'Besides, it's true. Can't you feel it out there?'

He didn't say anything for a minute, then he stood carefully, placing his toes right at the edge. He lifted his face and closed his eyes. I watched his pale features lit by the sun, each shadow etched, and felt a strange feeling right in the pit of my stomach. Was it…fear? It felt a lot like fear. I took a deep breath and closed my own eyes, pressing it down. It stayed, but I could handle it, whatever it was. When I opened my eyes, Scorpius was looking right at me.

'What?' I asked. I felt self-conscious, like I'd grown a second nose or something.

He just shook his head and sat back down. 'About the ocean, you're right. You can feel it, just like you can feel someone watching you.'

'How do you feel someone watching you? I've always wondered how that worked.'

He brushed his white-blond hair out of his eyes with a swift brush of his hand. 'I don't know. It's just one of those things, a knowledge that surpasses logic.' He was quiet for a moment. 'Do you believe that there can be a connection between people, something important and, I don't know, _cosmic,_ something controlled by something bigger than us?'

'Do you mean something like a God, or what?'

'I don't know. A higher power of some kind, or maybe just some design for the universe. People that are drawn to each other for a purpose.'

I thought for a minute. 'Well, I-'

'Rosie-Pose!' James was calling from the door to the cottage. 'You're wanted!'

'Just a minute!' I yelled back. Turning to Scorpius, I pulled a face. 'Duty calls.'

'Before, do you believe it?' There was something almost desperate in his grey eyes.

'I'll let you know.' And with that, I ran off to the cottage.

When I got there, I stepped through the door and stopped dead, then attempted to step backwards out when I beheld the sight that was the main room. I only stopped when I hit the door that James had shut behind me, and even then I scrabbled for the doorknob.

The entire place was full of racks. The racks were full of clothing, gauzy dresses in bright colours, silks and satins, lace. In every possible way the last place that I, the tomboy, would ever want to be.

'Rosie! There you are!' It was my aunt Ginny, clad in her ever-sensible jeans.

'I'm not wearing a dress' were the first words out of my mouth, but she paid them no heed, just dragged me off to a far corner, where more of my female relatives waited, including my mother, and my auntie Angelina. It was an onslaught of femininity, and even my usually sensible godmother Luna was being made soppy by the hormones brought on by her pregnancy. I still gave my aunts kisses, and one for Luna, and one on her belly for the baby. I went to give my mum a big hug, but stopped dead for the second time in as many minutes when I saw the determined look on her face. I turned to my aunt Ginny for help, but her look was equally stubborn. I looked to Luna, who just held up her hands as if to say 'I'm staying out of it.'

Surrounded by determined estrogen, with no one sensible to turn to, I was trapped.

'You, Rose Elizabeth Weasley, are wearing a dress to your cousin's wedding, and that is that, young lady.'

'Why? Why can't I just wear a, a skirt, or even nice dress pants? Why a _dress?_' I pleaded.

'Because, Rosie, you're a young lady, and it's time you started acting like it.' That was Ginny.

'But Mum-'

'No buts, Rose.' I opened my mouth to argue, but she cut me off again. 'Fistfights at school? You're nearly seventeen, and Head Girl.'

'But he-'

'Enough.' I fell silent. 'I don't care what he did, whoever 'he' is. I didn't tell your father about that, and I could have. I still could, if you don't stop protesting this instant, act your age, and put on that dress there.' She pointed to a dress on a hanger, on it's own at the end of a nearby rack. I picked it up and went into the bathroom to try it on. As soon as the door was shut behind me I started muttering about blackmailing, sadistic, schadenfreude-practicing mothers. I heard the women outside fall into peals of laughter, which sent _me_ into further grumblings as I shed my clothes and instead slid on the blue satin monstrosity. I zipped myself up and sent a quick prayer to whoever might be listening, then turned and looked in the mirror.

The dress was a cerulean blue that matched my eyes. The bodice was satin and v-necked dipping far enough to show some cleavage, but nothing slutty. The floaty skirts ran from the edge of the bodice down to my knees, with plenty of room to move around in.

I felt awkward and overdressed. 'I look ridiculous! I'm not coming out!' I called.

'Rose! You come out here, in that dress, _now._' I knew that voice, and hopped to, gloomily. I straightened my shoulders like a sergeant headed into battle and opened the bathroom door. I was met by cries of 'oh, how _lovely_!' by my female family members. I rolled my eyes and leaned against the doorframe.

'Okay, now that you've had your fun, can I change back?'

They completely ignored me, gathering round and fixing the straps, twirling me around to see the whole dress, talking about how _grown-up_ I looked, while I tried not to barf. During this, I noticed Indy enter the cottage and grin at me.

_Help me! _I mouthed, but she just grinned wolfishly and shook her head, taking a seat on the coffee table.

I endured the femininity for another minute, then nearly snapped. I walked over to Indy and picked up my mother's glass of wine from the table. The women stayed in the bathroom doorway, admiring the dress from afar.

'Why, Rosie, you look positively _darling_!!' Indy grinned at me. I knocked half the wine back in a sip.

'Don't even. I feel like a clown.' I looked down at the dress and grimaced.

'Do you want my honest opinion?' I considered this for a moment, then shook my head. 'Too bad, I'm giving it anyways. I think that you look absolutely amazing.'

'Too bad. I'm not wearing it.'

'Rose, seriously. This is Teddy and Victoire's wedding day. This is important to Victoire, she picked the dress out herself. Imagine how hurt she'll be if you don't wear it.'

I sighed. I hate it when she does that; she always knows my weak point. 'Fine. I'll wear it. But I'll hate it.'

'Fine, hate it, babe. Do whatever you like.' She stood. 'I'm off to find my 'beau' as Grandma Molly calls him.'

I laughed. 'That works. Whenever she sees me, she asks if I 'have a young man'. I'm always like, 'yup, bought him in Diagon Alley last week.''

She laughed too and left. I drank the rest of the wine in one sip and headed back into the bathroom to change. I was almost there when the door opened again, bringing in Victoire.

'Oh, Rosie, you look beautiful!' She swept over, and I groaned softly, knowing that I'd be made to stand dummy for at least another ten minutes. I needed more wine.


	11. What an Idiot

**A/N: Okay, so I know that I used to update twice a day, and now none for a week.**

**That is because I am working on my novel. It is difficult, but will be worth it when I'm done.**

**I have also been looking for work, which is exhausting and tiring and I have to wear a stupid skirt. I hate skirts. Job hunting sucks, especially when you're fifteen with no retail experience and a nose stud.**

**I like my piercing, thank you very much. I think it's pretty.**

**Thanks for reading! **

** -Elle**

Between them realizing that I didn't have shoes to wear and one line of the dress apparently not fitting right, it was another whole _hour_ before I escaped, and even then it was by the rescue of Teddy, telling them that it was nearly time for stags and hens, which I, as a minor, was excluded from, but all of them, including Indy, were part of. They all filed out, chattering like innocent partygoers, not the sadistic seamstresses that they really were. When they were finally gone, I let out a big breath.

'Thank _Merlin.'_ Teddy laughed.

'Difficult bunch?' he asked sympathetically.

'You're a dude. You have no idea. With guys, they just throw you in a suit which roughly fits and have done with it. If you're a girl, you have to wear dresses and matching shoes and jewellery. It's insane.'

'You do look nice.'

'I look like an idiot.'

'Yes, but a very well-dressed idiot.' I elbowed him and he laughed. I was reminded yet again of just how awesome he is. 'It really isn't that bad, Rosie-Pose. You look really…grown-up. I remember when you were a year old and I used to swing you up into the air to make you laugh.'

'And I remember when you were twelve and having mud fights with Victoire. Now you're marrying her!'

'Yeah. I can't believe it.'

'Are you nervous?' I asked.

He laughed. 'Would you believe, not at all? Not one little bit. I'm just so happy I could burst.'

I didn't know what to say, and said so. He just laughed again.

'You don't need to say a single thing. I know that you're happy for us, and you congratulate us, and you idolize me.' I didn't try to protest; it was true, and I'd told him this many times before.

'You're just too amazing, Teddy Bear.'

He groaned. 'Rosie-Pose, I'm getting married tomorrow. I'm twenty seven. Isn't that too old for Teddy Bear?'

'I've been calling you Teddy Bear since you used to swing me up into the air! I'm not about to stop now.' I poked him in the ribs.

'To preserve my street cred, I ought to poke you back, but I'll muss your pretty clothes.'

I groaned. 'Don't mention the clown suit. Oh, and they'll make me wear _jewellery_ and make-up-' Just then the door slammed open, admitting Al, Louis, and Scorpius.

'Oh, hi Teddy, we were just looking for Ro-Rose? Is that you? In a _dress_?' I ran into the bathroom, slamming the door behind me and leaned against it. This was what wearing a dress caused me. My own cousin barely recognized me!

I changed back to my jeans, resisting the urge to stuff the hated garment down the toilet. I emerged and hung the dress back on its hanger.

'Aw, Rosie, why'd you change? You looked pretty!' Al teased.

'Shut up, Albus Severus.' He winced at the angry use of his name. I levelled my finger at the three of them (Teddy had disappeared.). 'If there are any comments made or any pictures taken, you three will be shredded in a blender. Understood?'

Scorpius raised a tentative hand. 'Yes?' I demanded.

'What's a blender?'

'It's a Muggle thing for blending up fruit into smoothies and stuff. I'll show you later. Speaking of which…' I went to the fireplace and lifted up the jar of Floo Powder, pocketing the small key which lay underneath.

'Now that the hens have stopped mothering, it's time for us to find the littles and head home.'

We did find Scarlet and Saffron, who were with Sha, Sha's boyfriend Asher, Lily, Hugo, and two Veela cousins too young to be part of the adult festivities, and all Flooed back to my place, me holding the sleepy Scarlet.

Once home, I took the little girls up to my room where they were sleeping. Their pyjama's were already there, so I got them changed, then took Scarlet down to the kitchen on my hip to make her bottle, which she had every night before bed. I turned the kitchen lights down so they didn't hurt her sleepy eyes, and then set a small pot of water to boiling. I filled the bottle with milk from the fridge, put the lid on tight and set the bottle in the pot, careful to cover the top first. Scarlet fussed a bit, so I rocked her, singing gently until she calmed. Then I took the bottle out, tested the milk on my wrist (warm but not hot), and shifted her in my arms so that she could drink, giving her the bottle.

'You do that very well.' I turned, and saw that everyone else was sitting around the kitchen table, watching me. I hadn't even noticed them. Whoops.

'It's practice.' I left the kitchen and headed upstairs to settle the girls in. When I got back, they were still sitting there talking, Scorpius, Al, Louis, Hugo, Sha, Asher, Lily, and two awkward-looking Veela cousins, a girl and a boy who looked fifteen or sixteen.

I went to the liquor cabinet and unlocked it with the key in my pocket. 'Okay, so what do we want?'

Malfoy looked taken aback. 'You're seriously drinking your parents booze?' he looked between me and Albus. 'Head Boy and Girl, mister and miss perfect goody-goody?'

I laughed. 'Scorpius, just because they won't let us go to stags and hens, doesn't mean that they won't let us _party._ It's expected. See, mum even took out all the really expensive stuff that they don't want us having.'

Half an hour later, we were all getting slightly tipsy, all sitting in a circle on the living room floor, couch cushions and throw pillows all piled up around us. Someone had suggested 'Never Have I Ever' and we'd all agreed, for some reason.

At that point, it was Malfoy's turn. 'Never have I ever…snogged someone in a broom cupboard.' Everyone drank to that one. How could you not have, going to a magical boarding school?

Since he was on my left, it was my turn. 'Never have I ever…danced on a table when drunk.' Everyone but Hugo and the girl Veela, whose name was Veronique, drank. I caught Lily's eye and mouthed 'Martians' and we both cracked up.

Veronique's turn. 'Never have I ever…kissed Hugo Weasley.' She, Sha, and Asher drank!

'Hugo!' Things I didn't know about my little brother. I stared at him.

Malfoy gave him a high five, while Hugo turned the colour of a ripe tomato. Who knew he was such a dawg. Things I didn't want to know.

Sha and Asher were staring at each other, speechless. Then they both said, at the same time, 'He started it.'

We all laughed until we cried.

We talked and drank and played drinking games and laughed ourselves sick for hours. Hugo was the first to drop, because my little brother is a lightweight. Lily followed him, and around that time Sha and Ash snuck off. (I chose not to ask.) The drunken Veela cousins Flooed home, and Lou and Al took Hugo upstairs, then Flooed Lily home.

And then there were two.

When we realized this, there was a moment of awkward silence. Then Malfoy leaned forward and said

'You know, we still have a game of Truth to start.' His face was inches from mine, and my breath caught in my throat. I noticed that his grey eyes had flecks of green and blue in them; his breath touched my face, both sweet and boozy. I felt that feeling again in the pit of my stomach. I sat back.

'It's too warm in here.' I could have said anything in the entire world, and my choice of words was 'It's too warm in here.' What an idiot.

'It really is, and you're avoiding the Truth.' He sat back as well, and nearly fell over. What an idiot. (This appears to be becoming the catchphrase of the evening.)

'I'll open the window, and then we'll play.' I got up, and nearly fell over, because I was drunk. I could hear his unsmirked smirk, and the thought in his head: What an idiot.

I opened the window; letting in a swirl of cool air, then stumbled over the cushions back to the middle, tripped over a throw pillow and fell right into Scorpius' lap. I got up, thankful that the dark hid my blush.

'I have a Truth question for you, Rose,' he said. 'Why are you always falling around me?'

'I am not always falling around you!' I cried.

'Are too. You're not clumsy, so what's with that?'

'Tonight, I'm drunk. This afternoon, you startled me. Last week, you knocked me off the loveseat! It's always your fault!'

'It's my fault that you're drunk?' he asked.

'Yes! It is! Your horribility has driven me to drunkenessess.'

He cocked an eyebrow at me. 'I can see that. You really are drunk.'

'You aren't?'

'Nope.'

'Drink more.'

He laughed and lifted the bottle to his lips, taking a good swig of Firewhisky. 'Your turn.'

'All right. Why do you hate me?' I asked bluntly.

He blinked at me. 'I don't hate you. Why would you think I hated you?'

I snorted in a most unladylike manner. 'Hmm, let's think about that…' I ticked points off on my fingers. 'From my very first _hour_ at Hogwarts, you went out of your way to make my life a living hell, starting with tripping me at the feast. Since then, you have spent every opportunity insulting my family, hexing me, breaking my stuff, embarrassing me, getting me in trouble, and telling me that I'm an ugly, big-nosed stick who'll never get a date because she's too fucking ugly.'

He was taken aback. After a minute, he said 'I never thought of it like that.'

'Like what?' I demanded. 'Like being a teenager from a humongous family with a perfect record isn't bad enough without a bully?' I sniffed. Oh, Merlin, if I start crying, I will never, ever, ever live it down.

'I never meant to hurt you. Well, not really. Like, I tripped you, yeah, and hexed you, and stole your stuff, and insulted your family, and called you names. But I never thought you'd take it _seriously_.'

'Okay, so if you don't hate me, how do you feel about me?' Someone said. Then my mind caught up with my mouth, and I realized that it was me. Oh, shit. If I ever consider drinking again, remind me of this night.

'Nope. It's my turn.' He leaned towards me. In the slanting moonlight, half of his face was lit, the other in shadow, I had a sudden urge to bridge the inches between us and kiss him. Then I told myself that it was the liquor.

But it wasn't. I found him dead sexy. I didn't love him, hell, didn't even _like_ him, but I wanted him.

I expected him to ask something really crazy intimate after my revelation, like he knew what was going on behind my eyes, this turmoil as I wrestled around this new idea. But he didn't.

'What's your least favourite part about yourself?'

'My eyes.' I answered automatically. 'They're absolutely ridiculous.'

'What d'you mean?' he asked.

'They're too bright for my face, and my eyelashes are too long and dark. They're not eyes for me. They'd look good on Lily, or Indy, hell, even Louis, but not on me.'

He looked at me. 'No. On Lily, they'd look stupid. Your frighteningly fierce cousin Indigo already has eyes that are good on her; yours would be too dark blue. On Lou, I couldn't say. I don't swing that way.'

'So, it being my turn, what do you think of my eyes?' Who is this girl inhabiting my body, and why does she keep saying these idiotic things.

'I think that they are absolutely stunning.' He leaned even closer and the tip of his nose brushed mine. I jumped like I'd been scalded and turned my face away, shifting the way I was sitting. He appeared to realize himself, where he was and who I was, and leaned back against the sofa behind him.

'My turn. How many girls have you fucked?' I was curious about this; I had bet money down with Louis.

In the moonlight, I almost missed his blush. 'Aww, come on, Rose. Does it have to be that personal?'

'Of course it does. It's Truth. And don't get like that with me; you're the one who wanted to play.'

'Fine. If you must know, none. Zero. Zip. Nada.'

'Really?' I was shocked.

'Really. I could have my pick of nearly anyone, even your pretty little cousin Lily there, but nope. I'm waiting.'

'For what? A goddess? Marriage? Oh, don't tell me. The great womanizer Scorpius Malfoy has taken a vow of chastity?'

'Nope. I'm just waiting for the right girl.' He crossed his legs and sat up straighter.

I looked up at him; Merlin he's tall. 'Do you know what that information could get me?'

He looked down at me, then at the empty bottle in his hands. 'More booze?'

I laughed. 'More booze sounds good.' He got up using the couch behind him as a crutch. He reached a hand down to me for the second time that day. This time, I took it. It was big and warm, dwarfing my own thin fingers. He pulled to help me up. I rose a foot and then dropped again, him falling on top of me. For a moment, I was stuck under him, face to face, our hands trapped between our bodies. His breath tickled my face. I couldn't even breathe, and not just because he was heavy.

'Scorpius?' I whispered.

'Yeah?'

'You're crushing me.' He used his free hand to lever himself off. I was glad I could breathe again, and at the same time wanted him to still be crushing me. Hey, I said he was; I never said I didn't like it.

He stood again, and again, offered me his hand. I eyed it warily, and he laughed.

'Promise not to fall on you again. You're so light, it startled me.'

'Gee, thanks.' I took the hand anyways. We walked very carefully through the fuzzy drunken darkness to the kitchen, where we grabbed another bottle of Firewhisky, since we'd gone through all the decent Muggle booze earlier, when everyone had been around. I glanced at the clock as we tiptoed through the darkness.

'It's four am.' I whispered.

'Indeed,' he whispered back.

'I don't think you're drunk enough.'

'I don't either. But you're drunk enough.'

'Drunk enough for what?'

He shrugged. 'I dunno. Drunkenness?'

'Now you sound drunker.'

'You sound fairly sober.'

'Why are we whispering?' I collapsed back onto a pile of cushions.

'No idea,' he whispered back, collapsing next to me.

'Whose turn is it?' I asked.

'Mine. Um…oh, here's a good one.' I braced myself for the worst. 'Why are you dating that asshole?'

'What?'

'I know you heard me. You aren't that drunk.'

'But I don't know what you _mean._ He's not an asshole; he's actually a really nice guy.' Ish.

Scorpius snorted, actually snorted. 'He treats you like shit. He never asks you what you want to do. He always wants to snog, never to talk, I can tell. He knows nothing about you. And then there's the whole coffee thing.'

'The coffee thing?'

'You know, how every morning you come into the Great Hall and sit down next to him, he pours you a cup of coffee, you thank him but pour yourself tea or juice in another cup, and he hasn't noticed. It's been a month and he hasn't noticed. And he's really possessive.'

'He's not that bad, just…imperceptive.'

He snorted again. 'He's an asshole. You deserve better.'

That got me angry. 'It's my turn. And I'm asking, what d'you know? You're just an arrogant, superior, arrogant…I don't know. Who are you to judge? What do _you_, Sir Superior, think I deserve?'

'Firstly, I think you deserve a guy who knows you haven't drank coffee since that time in fifth year when you were all jittery, and then-'

'Yeah, lets not.' I'm still embarrassed about that.

'Anyways. You deserve someone who…gets up early to send you an owl with flowers to wake up to. You deserve someone who knows that your hair is copper, not brown or red. You deserve someone who can talk to you all night and doesn't need to kiss you, just loves to hear what you have to say. You deserve someone who notices when you're miserable, who asks you how your day went, who knows you hate makeup and jewellery and dresses, and appreciates that you're beautiful without all that. You deserve someone who would go through a dinner with your family and stay alive just because you asked him to. You deserve someone who'll kiss you like he means it, like he wants to be kissing you and only you, because you're clever and funny and graceful and beautiful and absolutely you. _That, _Rosie, is what you deserve.' He let this all out in a rush, and when he finished he just looked at me.

I opened my mouth to speak, but no sound came out. I took a sip of Firewhisky, and the burn cleared my head. I opened my mouth again, but he stopped me with a finger to my lips.

'My turn.' He said his voice slightly husky. I found myself feeling drunk and woozy and thrilled and electric and alive. 'Can I kiss you?'

I didn't answer, but he still lowered his face and pressed his lips to mine.

There is no way to describe it that is not a total cliché, so I'll use a couple.

It was like an electric shock, the good kind.

It was like fireworks exploding behind my eyes.

It was like every kiss I'd ever had before had been playacting, practise, and came nowhere close to this.

His lips were slightly chapped, and he tasted of booze and boy. I couldn't think of anything to do but kiss him back. We kissed for a minute, then I pulled away a bit.

'That was stupid.' I whispered, and kissed him again.

He pulled away a bit. 'Uh-huh.' He brought his mouth back.

I sat back and nearly fell over; he steadied me with a hand on my waist. 'We really ought to stop.' I said, and kissed him again, wrapping my arms around his neck. He tangled one hand in my hair and used the other to pull me closer, so I was pressed right up against him. I melted into the kiss, running my fingers through his hair, exploring his broad back with my hands. He slid one hand under the hem of my shirt and up my back. I pulled his shirt over his head, begrudging even the second it made me take my face away from his. He brought his lips back, hard, desperate, kissing my lips then along my jaw and down my neck, one hand still under my shirt. He brought his lips back to mine, and took my shirt, pulling it off, untangling his hand from my hair, running it down my spine in a way that made me moan with pleasure, bringing up to rest on my breast, on top of my bra. I pushed against him so hard that we fell over, half-laughing and drunk on the floor. He fumbled with my bra snap for a second and then it came open and his hand was on my breast, and I was lying on top of him, and then he was on top of me and he kissed and sucked down my neck and chest, giving me a hickey on my left breast and I could barely breathe as I fumbled with his belt and it was just so intense...

My common sense hit me with a bang, cutting through the lust and the alcohol. I let go of his belt, pushed him away from me, fastened my bra back up.

He looked at me drunkenly for a second, then shook his head, getting it back in shape.

'We're drunk.' He said.

'Yep.' I said, casting around for my shirt.

'And we were just snogging.'

'Snogging, that's one word for it.'

'Yeah, that went a little farther than snogging.' He ran his fingers through his hair. 'Rosie?'

'Yeah?'

'You're a damn fine snog.'

I threw a look at him, to see if he was joking. He wasn't.

'You too, Scorpius. And don't call me Rosie.' I pulled my shirt over my head.

He tickled the bottom of my bare foot. 'Would you prefer Rosie-Pose?' he teased.

'If you ever utter that nickname again, I will hex you into oblivion. I'm not even kidding, just ask Jimbo or Al, because Lou's too smart to piss me off, but they know, don't fuck with me because I will hex-'  
He'd kissed me again, in the middle of the sentence. 'Shut up, Rosie-Pose.'

I resisted the urge to kiss him back.

'I'll deal with you when I'm sober.' I said, leaning back on a pile of cushions.

'I'm sure.' He leaned on the pile next to me, still shirtless. We lay in silence for a while, until I was almost asleep. Then, he spoke.

'Since you didn't answer my last question, I get another.'

'Sounds fair,' I said, sleepily.

'Did you enjoy it?'

'You're an idiot.'

'That's not a proper answer,' he protested.

'Too bad.'

'So do I get the next turn, or do you?'

'Both. That being said, I'm drunk, and I'm too drunk to look for a blanket, so I'm sleeping without one. Goodnight.' I curled up on my side. A while later, through a half-asleep haze, I heard him leave. I was awake only for one last thought; What an idiot. Then, I fell into a deep, alcohol-aided sleep.


	12. Malfoy in the Morning

The next thing I knew, I was warm and comfortable with sunshine on my face. I opened my eyes. I was still on a bunch of cushions on the floor, sprawled sideways. Covering me was the comforter from the guest room; it must have been Scorpius' doing…Scorpius….Aw, fuck. The fuzzy memories of the night before all came back in a rush. I put my face into one of the pillows and groaned, then looked at the clock. It was seven fifteen. I got up, noticing the big crinkly sleep-creases on my forearms, etched red and white into my pale skin.

I stretched my arms up into the air and touched my toes, working out the kinks, glad that I'm not the sort of person that gets hangovers. There's no middle ground there; either you get them, or you don't. Al gets them, and Louis and I don't, much to his displeasure. So, basically, today I either give him some of Mum's hangover cure or yell in his ear, depending on how annoying he's being.

I headed into the kitchen, stopping short at the sight that waited for me. Malfoy (yes, after last night, he was Malfoy again), standing in the middle of the kitchen in ripped jeans and a sloppy t-shirt, barefoot, hands on hips, facing the coffee maker.

'Malfoy?' He turned.

'I know what it is; I just don't know how it works. And I don't want to just start pushing buttons in case one of them is the self destruct.'

'Good plan.' If he wasn't going to bring up last night, neither was I.

I got the jar of coffee from the bottom shelf and looked at the clock; seven twenty, ten minutes.

'I got the kettle on for your tea!' he said proudly, pointing to the stove. Sure enough, there was a kettle full of water sitting on the burner, doing absolutely shit nothing. I looked at the dial; it was set on the lowest setting. It was almost cute, how rumpled and proud of himself he was.

'You do know that your boxers have dinosaurs on them, don't you?' I said conversationally, scooping coffee into a filter.

To my delight, he blushed as he hitched his jeans up. 'I do know that, actually. My mother bought them for me. She had trouble accepting the fact that I'm seventeen. Well, nearly seventeen. In…six days.'

I pressed the 'On' button and sidled over to the stove. 'Six days? Your birthday's next Friday?' Pretending to wipe something off of the back of the stove, I surreptitiously turned the burner up to the highest setting.

Then I sat on the counter and looked at him.

His white-blond hair was mussed, and his cheeks were still flushed from sleep. His black t-shirt made the colours in his eyes stand out even more and I wondered how I'd never noticed them until yesterday. He was well over six feet, slender but muscular. He sat on one of the stools, one leg pulled up to his chest, fiddling with the frayed cuff of his jeans. I glanced at the clock; five minutes. Enough time for toast.

I put two slices in and got out the marmalade. When they popped, I spread them with marmalade and wrapped them in a navy blue cloth napkin. I poured coffee into a Muggle travel mug, added sugar and put the lid on tightly. The clock read seven twenty nine.

I spread the jeans over the back of the chair nearest the hall door and picked up the blazer on the coat rack by the kitchen door. Then I looked at Malfoy.

'Just sit there. Don't say anything loud; don't make any sudden moves.' We heard a bump down the hall. I looked at the clock.

Five…four…three…two…one… The hall door opened. In came my father, eyes at half-mast, clad in boxers and a clean black t-shirt. He pulled on the jeans, then the blazer I offered him. I put the coffee in one hand, the toast in the other, and then he walked over to the fireplace, had a difficult moment juggling everything, and then disappeared with a shout of 'Ministry of Magic'.

'That was exceedingly strange.' Malfoy was staring at the fireplace.

'That is what happens every day when I'm home. The rest of the time, Mum has a spell set up to do it.' I looked at the fireplace fondly. 'In about five minutes, he'll reach his office, sit down, take a sip of his coffee, look at the calendar and realize that it's Saturday and he's supposed to be at Shell Cottage.'

I turned back to the kitchen, taking out the small teapot. (You have to remember, this is all relative. Their small teapot is a bit smaller than a regular Brown Betty; their large is big enough for the entire Weasley clan and has to be lifted by magic when full.) I put in two teabags and poured in the contents of the whistling kettle, then turned to Malfoy.

'What shall I make for breakfast?' I asked.

'Um…' The clock chimed softly, like I'd set it to. I took down another mug, filled it with coffee, added a splash of milk and screwed the lid on tight. I stood in the doorway with it.

'Okay, now don't say _anything_. When you are acknowledged, grunt, but don't speak.' He opened his mouth to object but I put my finger to my lips, shushing him.

We heard footsteps coming down the hall, and then my mother entered the room, wearing casual clothes in an immaculately neat way and carrying a large carry bag, looking not one bit hung-over (she's like me.). I handed her the coffee, she thanked me and kissed my cheek.

'Morning, Louis,' she said to Malfoy, who had his head down, and he grunted as asked. She thanked me again and disappeared.

'Are they gone?' Malfoy whispered, shifting his eyes right and left. 'Are there any more? Are they going to start parading in an exceedingly predictable manner?'

'Nope, that's it. And they're my parents. They're just like that in the mornings, have been my whole life, with the exception of when my mother was pregnant with Hugo.'

'Why doesn't your father Apparate to work?'

'He's too asleep. He doesn't want to splinch himself, so he uses Floo Powder. The cost is smaller than the gain, especially since the Ministry reimburses him half of his travel cost.' I poured myself a cup of the tea and took a sip. 'So, back to the earlier question; what should we have for breakfast? ¿Que tenemos para el desayuno? That's Spanish, but I'm not very good. It actually means 'What do we have for breakfast?', which is close enough for government work, and we all work for those bastards.' He blinked at me. 'French toast! How do you feel about French toast?' He blinked at me again. 'Fat lot of help you are.'

Soon I was teaching him to make French toast, which is one of the easiest things on the planet. The previous Christmas, I'd taught Saffron, my six-year-old cousin, and he was nearly seventeen and having trouble, which amused me. Hugo ambled in at some point and Lou Flooed in, still in his pyjama's, to get away from the wedding insanity at his house.

He stepped out of the fireplace, started to say good morning, and then stopped, a manic grin spreading across his face. He came over and stood next to me as I flipped the French toast.

'Rosie?' Lou whispered in my ear.

'Yeah?' One piece was sticking to the pan, and ripping when I tried to get it up.

'Why are you wearing Malfoy's shirt?'

I glanced down in horror to see that last night, in the drunkenness and the dark, I'd put on the wrong shirt. I looked back up into Louis' grinning, too-perceptive face.

'If you ever mention this, I will hex you into oblivion.'

He snorted. 'Yeah, like I'm stupid enough to do that.' He looked at Malfoy, then back at me. 'That being said, you got some 'splainin' to do.'

I just shook my head and waved him off, making a mental note to change, soon.

I handed coffee to Hugo and tea to Louis (he says he gets hyper from caffeine. Since hyper for Louis is anyone else's calm, I don't think it's a concern, but whatever, it's his choice.) After he'd had some tea to wake himself up, Lou set the table and put out a bowl of grapes, and the four of us had a lovely civilized breakfast in my kitchen. With _Malfoy._ Who woulda thunk it.

It was all too soon that we had to Floo over to Shell Cottage and join the wedding insanity. As soon as I stepped (erm, fell) out of the fireplace, I was swallowed up by the crowds of people. It was only family, no one else was there yet, which was merciful, because family is more than enough to scare the hell out of anyone.

I got jostled around the house, and then out the door into the cool sea air. Out here, too, chaos reigned, but at least I could breathe. I looked around for someone my age, and found no one. What I did see was my uncle Charlie, trying to spell tablecloths not to fly away with Scarlet on one hip and Saffron so close he nearly stepped on her. I laughed at how hassled he looked, then took charge of the girls, taking them away from the crowds of people.

I was teaching them to make daisy chains when a shadow fell on me. I turned, dreading what I might find. And, sure enough, it was Indy and Dom. (insert intake of breath through teeth, indicating torture to come)

'Rose.'

'Yes Dominique?'

'You need to get dressed.'

'I am dressed.'

She rolled her eyes. 'Dressed for the wedding. The aunts are all inside; don't keep them waiting. We'll take the girls.'

I rolled my eyes, then left, dragging my feet and muttering to myself. I hate dresses, weddings and women, especially my aunts. No, that's a lie, I love my aunts. I hate what they're like about dresses and weddings.

I entered the cottage and was instantly surrounded by bustling women, doing their hair, putting on make-up and wearing dresses. It scared the shit out of me. I practically strong-armed my way through them like a football player before collapsing in a corner, behind a rack of dresses. I turned my head and got a start from seeing Indigo next to me.

'Nice try, Rosie. Just get dressed, and we'll make this as painless as possible.' I flinched as she grabbed me around the top of my arm and propelled me towards the racks of dresses. She handed me mine and stood there, just looking at me. 'You know I won't leave until you give up and put it on already.'

She was already wearing her own dress, along with a mulish expression. I threw my hands up in the air and put the dress on, leaving my clothes folded neatly and placed on top of my shoes in the corner, where no one would look for them.

'Quit flinching!' Indy ordered. 'Or I'll put a Freezing Charm on your face!'

'You're poking me in the eye with a pencil! Do you expect me to be calm?'

I hate women.

Half an hour later, I had been put through makeup and hair hell, and had made it out alive, even with the part of my dignity that hated heels intact; in exchange for me wearing the dress, I'd bargained wearing pretty ballet flats instead. I slipped out of the cottage, skulking around the back, hoping that no one would see me, and then someone touched my arm, sending my blood pressure skyrocketing.

'Rose? Are you okay?' Oh Merlin no, it was Malfoy. I felt my cheeks begin to turn red.

'No, I mean, yeah, I'm fine.' Why did I have to be cursed with a redhead's blush?'I'm fine.' I repeated.

'I'm sure you are,' Scorpius said. I looked him up and down. He was wearing black dress pants and a charcoal grey shirt. He wasn't wearing a tie, and I mentioned it.

'Yeah, well, it's with my jacket. I don't want to wear it until I strictly have to, if you don't mind. I hate wearing them; they make me feel overdressed.'

'Now you know how I feel in a dress!' I replied. 'It's like the whole world is staring at me! I hate it!'

'Rose, breathe. I, for one, think that you look absolutely beautiful.' I glared at him. 'No, really, it's the truth.'

'Then I thank you for the compliment, as the well-mannered young lady that I supposedly am. And as the Rose Weasley that I actually am, I say that if you ever mention this ever again to anyone, I will hex you into jelly.'

'Understood.' He held out his arm to me. I looked at it suspiciously. 'Come on, Rose. We're in fancy clothes, we have a truce, it only seems right that we should walk like we belong in a Jane Austen novel.' I laughed and took his arm.

'How do you know about Jane Austen?' I asked as we wandered around the cottage, towards the cliffs-edge path.

'My mum read them; she's a fanatic. She watches the Muggle movies, too, and I remember being a little kid and being fascinated by the way they talked. So when I was older, I read one, and was completely taken in by the words, whither and perchance, and how funny it was, but in a really subtle way, sort of like Shakespeare.'

'I know, Merlin, how funny is he! I especially love Twelfth Night, it's my favourite.'

'Yeah, Twelfth Night and A Midsummer Night's Dream. And Romeo and Juliet.'

'Oh, no, I officially can't even be on truce with you anymore. I _hate _Romeo and Juliet. It's just so soppy and insipid. Two thirteen-year-olds falling in love and hatching an elaborate plan to be together before they've even hit puberty, and in this end dying through an error of miscommunication. Ick.'

'Ah, the world is full of cynics. I myself am a romantic, so I believe deeply and desperately in the power of love.'

'And I doubt its existence, loverboy.'

'Well, I suppose one of us will find out, won't we?' he asked.

'Or mayhap both of us will. We find what we seek, although it wasn't there until we sought it. It's human nature.'

'To love is human nature.'

'To love is to set yourself up for disappointment.'

'Piffle.' And with that profound statement, he turned around and began to walk away.

'Scorpius, wait!' He stopped and turned. 'Don't leave me alone in this madness.' I pleaded.

He looked at me and his face changed. He didn't say anything for a moment, and then he smiled oddly. 'You know, you really do look beautiful.' He came back over and held out his arm again. I took it, more confused than ever.

**A/N: Okay, so this chapter took me months, literally. I've been working on other things, mostly my novel, and I've only been writing like, 100 words at a time, so it's taken eons.**

**Thank you to my loveable readers! Please review!**

**-Elle**


	13. Truce

The second I entered the Ravenclaw common room, I was leapt upon by my boyfriend, Chase.

'Rose! Where were you? I haven't seen you in ages!' he demanded.

'It's not even been three days. I told you, I went to my cousin's wedding.'

'Oh. Well, I forgot!' he seemed angry and defensive.

'Chase, what's got you so riled up?' I asked, concerned.

'Nothing! Merlin, why can't I just talk without you assuming something?' He seemed even angrier.

'Chase, what's wrong?'

'Nothing! Stop asking me questions!' he put a hand on my shoulder and pushed me roughly away from him. I wasn't expecting it, and I stumbled and nearly fell. He just stalked away, up to his dormitory, leaving me dumbfounded.

'What was that about?' Louis' voice came from behind me. I turned.

'I have no idea,' I said, bewildered. Louis looked thoughtful, and also worried. I hugged him, hiding my own confusion. 'Maybe he had a bad weekend. Let's go to lunch.'

He nodded and we went down towards the great hall. I sat down with Lou, but didn't eat; my stomach felt a bit queasy. I felt confused and wrong-footed, and we didn't talk much.

The afternoon was spent with Lou and Al, catching up on all my homework, eventually giving up for lack of concentration, and then lying on the floor of the prefects common room, eyes closed, hands behind my head, lost in thought, listening to the rain outside. It was soothing, and the fire was warm as I let my mind drift into the soft darkness of nothingness…

The next I knew, someone was sitting next to me on the floor. 'Weasley? You're asleep. On the floor of the common room. What the hell?'

I sat up, brushing my hair out of my eyes, wincing when I hit the bruise on my forehead.. 'I wasn't asleep. I was listening.'

'Bullshit. You were asleep.' It was Malfoy, of course.

'What do you care?' I asked brusquely.

'Because it's four in the afternoon, and I want to study right where you're sitting.'

'Too fucking bad.' I lay back down and closed my eyes again, my hair falling back off my face.

He poked my bruised forehead, and I yelled. 'What the fuck is your problem, Malfoy?' I tried to hit him, but he jumped away. I stood to try and chase him, then nearly fell over as I got the mother of all head rushes. My eyes blacked, and I felt myself fall, barely registering my own hitting the ground, and a yell of 'Rose!'

I was very warm and comfortable, in a cozy sleepy blackness. I tried to open my eyes, but they felt glued shut. I tried again, and managed to get them open.

An amused voice greeted me with 'You're an idiot.' I turned my head to see Louis sitting on a chair next to my bed, elbows on knees. I looked around and realized I was in the hospital wing.

'What happened?' I asked, groggily.

'When you hit your head Floo-ing back, you concussed yourself. You stood up in the common room and passed out.'

It came back: feeling nauseous, not being able to concentrate, falling asleep when I wasn't tired, Malfoy waking me up, getting up to chase him and blacking out.

'Fuck.' I said.

'That's right, dumbass.' Lou was never one to mince words. 'You probably feel pretty stoned right now; that's the sleeping potion. When it wears off, you can leave.'

'What time is it?'

'It's Monday, about seven a.m. Madame Pomfrey said that she'd just give you a potion to make you sleep all night, because brain healing is difficult to do, even with magic. The best thing to do is let your body heal it.'

I sat up carefully, wincing as my head pounded. I took the water on the nightstand and took a careful sip, then another. The cold drink cleared my head, and my stomach rumbled.

'I'm hungry,' I stated.

'Well, you haven't eaten in twenty-four hours, so I would suspect so. Do you think the potions worn off yet?' I nodded.

He called Madam Pomfrey, and the matron came bustling over. She looked at my head, in my eyes, and nodded decisively. She handed my a goblet full of some potion, bright purple and shiny. I eyed it suspiciously.

'It's good for you. It'll fix your headache and get your strength up. When you drink it, you can leave.' I pinched my nose and knocked it back, then pulled a face.

'Merlin, that's disgusting. What did you put in it? Wait, I don't want to know.' I swished my mouth out with some water. Louis laughed as the matron bustled away, shaking her head.

'Here's some clothes. I got that girl in your dorm, the black girl, Denise, wasn't it? Yeah, I got her to get one of your uniforms.'

I thanked him and shooed him out, pulling the curtains so I could have some privacy. After I dressed, we went down to breakfast. Chase was there, and I sat next to him. He didn't say a word, even when I tried to get his attention, so I let it go. When he stood to leave the Great Hall, I followed. Once we were out of the public eye, I stopped him.

'Chase, what's up? Are you mad at me? Did you just have a shit weekend?'

He turned around, an ugly look on his face. I took an involuntary step backwards.

'Where the _fuck_ were you last night?' His voice was soft and very angry.

'I had hit my head Floo-ing back, and I must have concussed myself, so when I stood up to get Malfoy back-'

'Fuck.' Now he was louder, angrier. 'You were with Malfoy. Is that what I deserve? A girlfriend who openly takes the guy she's cheating on me with home with her, and then spends the night with him!' He stalked off, and I followed him.

'Chase, stop it. We're not like that; I hate Malfoy. It was a favour for Teddy, taking him home like that.' I ran my hand through my hair in frustration, making it bush out even worse.

'Then where were you last night? Out with him.'

'No, I was in the hospital wing. Chase, you're being an idiot.'

He stopped suddenly, whirled around, and grabbed me by my upper arms, hard enough to bruise.

'Never,' he said, voice shaking with anger. 'Never call me stupid.' He put his face right up next to mine, his eyes smouldering with anger. 'Got it?'

I looked into his eyes and felt fear, true fear, for what was maybe the first time in my life. I nodded and he let go, stalking away. I stood there in an empty corridor, arms wrapped around myself, shaking, for a good long while.

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I know that after that, I should have dealt with it, been more wary, confronted him about it, something. But at lunch, he was all smiles and kisses and pet names, and it was hard to make any connection between this happy, loving guy and the angry one who had grabbed me so hard that he left bruises around my biceps. Being angry at someone who brought you flowers at suppertime just makes you look bitchy and unreasonable. I just put it out of my mind, pretending that it had never happened, and continued on with my life.

On Friday, I finished classes with a pile of homework that almost rivalled my migraine in size, and I did not want to be around other people, talking and making other noises. My headache was so bad that I didn't even like hearing myself breathe.

So I took refuge in a secluded corner of the library, spreading my books on a table and putting out the nearest torches, lowering the light levels to a manageable setting. I stuck my head out and looked around, but there was no one who would care, so I took off my shoes and tie, curling my feet under me. I finished my Potions and Arithmancy assignment, and got a good start on my Transfiguration essay, as my brain slowly started to melt. I hadn't slept well, and I was extremely warm and comfortable in this comfy chair in this comfy sleepy warm library…

I sat up straighter and shook my head, trying to clear it.

'Too warm, that's the problem.' I said this out loud, and then looked around to make sure no one had heard me; I saw no one anywhere near. I took off my school shirt, revealing the plain black tank top I wore underneath. I continued on my essay.

' "So, in summary, the five principles of Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration are"… Damn, what are they?' I spoke aloud again. 'I've got to stop doing that.' I said aloud, and when I realized, I let my head drop so that it banged against the table. 'Ow! Fuck!' I put a hand on my throbbing forehead.

I had a ton of homework and I was tired and my bruise hurt and I had a migraine and I missed Indy and I'd had a shit day and it all piled up at once, and I started to cry. Hot, salty tears began to stream silently down my face, dripping from my cheeks to drop on my grey wool skirt. I pressed my hands over my face and just cried, just let the tears fall.

'Rose?' I heard the voice and tried to stop crying, but I couldn't. I heard footsteps get nearer, and a chair scraped the floor as someone pulled it over next to me. I didn't take my hands away from my face as someone hesitantly stroked my hair, like they expected me to pull away. When I didn't, they put their arms around me and I buried my face in their neck. On some level, I realized that it was Malfoy, and I didn't care; I just needed a hug.

I don't know how long we sat there, Malfoy holding me and stroking my hair while I just cried and cried and cried. When I'd finally stopped, I pulled away and looked at his face. He had a strange look, one I'd never seen on him before.

'I'm sorry. I don't usually do this. I just…I just had a really bad day.' I took a deep, shuddering breath.

'It's fine, Rose.' He still had that odd look on his face. He took one of my bare arms in his hands; he was surprisingly gentle. 'Rose, who the hell did this to you?'

'No one. I fell and bumped my arm.' Even hearing myself say it, I knew that it was a lame excuse.

'Don't bullshit me, these are finger marks.' His hands started to shake and he let go of my arm. 'Rose, what's going on?'

I pushed myself away from him, put my blouse back on and began to gather my books and papers. 'Nothing. I'm fine.'

'Is it your stupid fucking asshole of a boyfriend? Is he hurting you?' He looked angry now, but not at me. I felt angry, and frightened in a different way than I had been with Chase. It didn't feel like I had to run away; it felt like I had to stay, that I was afraid of what was everywhere else right then.

I stuffed my papers in my bag with shaking hands. 'Fuck off, Malfoy. Mind your own business.' I slung my bag over my shoulder and stalked out of there, head down, face still tear-streaked.

That night, when I was lying in bed, almost asleep, his face flashed into my mind, the odd look he'd had before and the hurt look when I told him to fuck off and mind his own business. I tried to shake it, but I felt guilty, and his face followed me into my dreams.


	14. Tired and Freaked

I tossed and turned all night and eventually gave up on sleep around four am, instead opting to just read. I still couldn't focus, so I completely gave up and crept out of my dormitory, still in my pajamas. It was getting warmer now, and I could sit on the front steps of the school, drinking tea, in only my pyjamas, slippers and jumper as I watched the sun rise. I saw smoke come from Hagrid's chimney and smiled.

Suddenly, I swore, realizing why I had felt so bad about yelling at Malfoy. Yesterday was his _birthday_, he'd told me so last weekend, and I'd cried on him and yelled at him, on his _birthday._ Even if I did hate him, that's a bitch move if I ever heard one.

I groaned and swore again. Where was Indy when I needed her? Why didn't I have friends who weren't family? I took a big sip of tea and it burned my throat. I felt like I deserved it.

I went back to bed at ten and slept all day, waking up just before dinner. I went to dinner and sat with Lou, who was in a broody, silent mood and didn't want to talk. After that, I went back to bed and slept all night and late into the next day. When I finally got up at eleven and went down for food, Lou was sitting at the table, picking at his food and looking sullen. I sat down next to him, still in my pj's.

'What's up, LouLou?' I asked.

'No. Not the nickname. It's not cute, or funny. It's dumb.'

I looked at him, surprised; he's never that rude. 'What's the matter?'

'Nothing.' He poked at some congealing porridge with his spoon, then threw the spoon down with a gloop. 'Okay, something. There _is _something wrong.'

'Do you want to talk about it?' I poured myself a cup of tea.

'No. Yes. Maybe. Can we take a walk?'

'Yeah, sure.' I spread marmalade on a piece of toast and wrapped it in a napkin to take with me. We headed out towards the lake, me munching my toast. It was an unseasonably warm day and I realized that it was the last spring I'd ever spend at Hogwarts. It was an unsettling thought.

We walked in silence for a minute, then Louis spoke. 'Okay, so what we have here is a hypothetical conundrum in which a guy who is bi likes a guy who is almost positively straight. And the bi guy thinks that one of his female relatives likes the almost positively straight guy. What should Bi Guy do?'

I took a moment to sort this in my head. 'So, _you_ like an unnamed straight guy, we'll call him X. And you think one of the cousins likes X too?'

'X may be bi, I don't actually know, and I think that _two_ of the cousins like him.'

I pulled a face. 'That is a sticky situation.'

'I know, right?' He looked extremely distressed in the way that only Louis can. It was kind of adorable, actually. I reached up and ruffled his hair.

'Would you tell me who X is?'

'No way in hell.'

'Would you tell me which cousins?' I was fishing, piecing it all together. It's my hobby.

'Lily is one of the cousins, but I won't tell you who the other one is.'

'Hm.' By omission, he just ruled out many of the cousins. If it were Dom, say, he would have told me. As is, it could be…

'Does this unnamed cousin still go to Hogwarts?'

'Yes.'

Oh. My. God. The only female cousin at Hogwarts other than Lily is _me._

'So you think that me and Lily like the same guy? And you like him too?'

'How did you figure it out?' he demanded.

'You know, Lou, for such a genius, you're pretty thick.' He rolled his eyes at me. 'And you know, the only guy I like is my boyfriend. And if you want him that much, you can have him.'

Lou pulled a face. 'No thanks! I don't even like being around that guy. I'm sorry, Rosie, but your boyfriend gives me the creeps.'

A picture flashed into my mind; the ugly look on Chase's face as he bruised my arms, the fear I felt. I shivered slightly.

'What?' Lou asked.

'Nothing.' We had finished a circuit of the lake. I yawned.

'I'm pretty tired, Lou. I think I'm going to go do some homework, maybe read a book and take a nap.'

'You just got out of bed an hour ago!'

I yawned again. 'I know. I'm just really, really tired. I have no idea why.'

He flicked his fingers at me. 'Shoo. Go get your beauty sleep, not that you need it. You already have enough boys chasing you.' I shook my head at his silliness and shuffled back up towards the castle.

Entering the Ravenclaw common room, I saw a couple of fifth years in the corner, madly studying for OWLs, and Chase, reading in an armchair by the window. When he saw me he came over.

'Rosie! Come on, come sit with me.' He kissed me quickly and then took me by the hand, leading me to where he was sitting and pulling me onto his lap.

'Hey, Chase.'

He kissed me again, for longer, until I pulled away.

'Look, Chase, I'm really tired, I think I'm just going to go to bed.'

'Come on, doll.' He kissed me again, pulling me closer, and I pushed him away, feeling trapped.

'Chase, no.' I tried to stand, but he had his arms wrapped around me tight and wouldn't let go. Fear shot through me. 'Chase, let go.' I said it softly, but I was shaking, and I knew he saw it.

'Babe, come on.' He had this wild look on his face.

'Let go of me!' It came out shrill, shaky and frightened. The fifth years whipped their heads around as he let go, shaking his head.

He held his hands up. 'Whatever. If you want to be a prude, whatever.'

I backed away until I was at least ten feet away from him and then turned and ran up to my dormitory, where I slammed the door behind me, convinced in some irrational part of my mind that he was chasing me.

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I slept most of that afternoon, waking for a couple of hours in the evening, and slept the night through. Somehow, I was still tired when I awoke Monday morning. I showered and dressed through half-closed eyes and made my way down to breakfast. I sat down next to Lou and poured myself tea. A while later, to my surprise and apprehension, Chase sat down next to me.

But he acted like everything was normal. He poured me coffee, but when he leaned in to kiss me, I had to fight the urge to lean back, into Lou and away from Chase.

Lily bopped over at one point, giving me and Lou huge hugs and kisses. When I asked her what gave, she just giggled and said that it was a beautiful day. In Lily-speak, that means that she's got a new prospect. I sent a silent prayer to whoever was listening that it wasn't the guy Lou wanted.

First class was Herbology so I trudged out to the greenhouses, trailing my feet, still half asleep and depressed by Lou's problems and Lily's problematic cheeriness.

I only half listened to Professor Longbottom's explanation of the day's task, mentally flicking through the list of boys that I and Lily could mutually like and drawing a blank. It was only when I heard my name that I jerked my head up.

'What?' Everyone tittered.

'You're paired with Mr Malfoy,' Professor Longbottom said. 'And I would appreciate, Ms Weasley, if you would pay attention.'

He was scowling, very unlike his usual self. I assumed that something had happened to make him cranky, or maybe he just disliked Monday mornings as much as the rest of us did.

I silently took a suspiciously innocent-looking plant, something similar to a lilac-coloured nasturtium. We were apparently supposed to take off the dead flowers and leaves.

Easier said than done.

Malfoy and I put on our gloves and goggles and had at it. Every time we reached towards it, it would extend a thin, strong stem with a round flat bit at the end, covered in spikes, which would push our hands away. It was strong, fast, flexible, and nearly untrickable. It took all our intelligence, strength and cunning to get just one dead flower off.

'This could take a while,' Malfoy panted after a particularly tricky attempt, where he held the club-like stem while I picked off the dead leaves.

'You could say that,' I replied.

We worked in silence for another few minutes, doggedly attacking the plant.

'Rose-' he began, but I cut him off.

'Don't use my first name.'

He rolled his eyes. '_Weasley, _then, if you're so picky.'

'Yes?' I said sweetly.

'Who left those bruises on your arms?'

'It has nothing to do with you. I'm a big girl, and I can handle myself.' I shot him a look. 'And even if I couldn't, you're the _last _person that I'd ever ask for help.'

'You have to tell me.' He looked serious, his eyes boring into mine. I turned my head, focussing on the plant again.

'I have to do nothing of the sort. Shut up before I let this kill you and make it look like an accident.'

He opened his mouth to reply, but then Professor Longbottom came up, tutting.

'Hardly any progress.' He made a note on his parchment. 'Better get a move on. Less chatter, more work!'

As he left, I muttered about my supposed loving godparents, then pulled out my wand and put a freezing charm on the plant, picked off all the dead stuff quickly and unfroze it.

'Professor? How's that for done?'

'That's ten points from Ravenclaw, for cheek.'

I hate Mondays.

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The next class was Arithmancy, which was surprisingly easy, for once, then Transfiguration, for which I was late, since I'd had to run up to Ravenclaw Tower for my book.

When I skidded in, nearly every seat was filled, except for the one next to Scorpius Malfoy. McGonagall took five points for lateness as I threw myself into the desk next to Malfoy, _again._ I took careful notes as McGonagall talked for half the class, then put my head down on my arms as she decided on which devilment to assign us for homework.

'Rose, this isn't a joke, it's important. Who did it?'

I replied, my voice muffled by my arms. 'Malfoy, it's none of your business. Fuck. Off.'

McGonagall was standing next to me. 'Such atrocious language, and from the Head Girl! Twenty points from Ravenclaw!'

I hate Mondays.

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That night was my first Quidditch practice in more than a week, since I'd been forbidden to play all of last week while my concussion finished healing, and I was not feeling up to it.

Nevertheless, after dinner I trudged down to the pitch and took to the air.

The practice sucked; everyone totally failed, leaving me feeling extremely.

I was walking back up to the castle with Chase, who was the team captain, talking about the practice.

'I don't know what went wrong,' he was saying. 'We've trained so hard, and we just-'

'Suck, I know. You don't have to tell me,' I replied glumly. 'I have so much homework, I don't know if it was even worth coming.'

'Aw, come on, doll, you know it was, just to be with me.' I knew he was half-joking, but I didn't like the edge to his voice, so I agreed.

'Okay, you caught me. But I really need to get back to the common room; I have extra work for Transfiguration on top of my normal homework.'

We were holding hands, and he brought my hand up, kissing our entwined fingers. 'Come on, Rosie. Let's just walk for a bit.'

'Chase, I have homework.' I tugged my hand out of his. 'I have to go. I've wasted enough time already on this shit practice.'

'Shit, is it? I've put work into this team, I'll have you know, and I don't want people like _you_ knocking it.'

'People like me?' I was tired and frustrated. 'What kind of people are those, exactly?' I was nearly yelling at this point, and getting angry at his arrogant manner.

He replied with a string of works so vile I won't repeat them.

I was shocked, and replied without thought. 'Fine. If you think I'm that bad, go face the world by yourself, you coward.'

I didn't even see the punch coming. I just knew that suddenly, my right side was on fire. I tucked my arms around myself and bit my lip, fighting tears. I raised my eyes to him, where he was standing there staring at his fists. He looked at me, met my eyes, and then turned and ran away.

Once the pain had subsided somewhat, I made my way up to castle. Every time I took a deep breath, my ribs flared in pain, so I tried to breathe fairly shallowly.

Once I'd reached my dorms and changed, though, I had to face a decision. Did I just keep going with this punch, carrying the pain around with me while my body healed itself, or did I go to the hospital wing and let the whole thing that had happened with Chase get out?

I decided to put off the decision, see how much it hurt in the morning.


	15. Empowerment

**A/N: Okay, more angst and foul language. But after this chapter, it picks up again, I swear.**

It hurt like hell in the morning. I could barely breathe, and spread across my ribs was a huge red-purple bruise. I swore and dressed, very, very carefully, then went down to breakfast, mincing down the stairs and taking the long route so that I didn't have to duck through any secret passages.

I was down to breakfast hours early, so I sat alone, the only person in the entire hall, drinking tea and wondering whether I should go to the hospital wing or not. I had Quidditch practice again that night, true enough, but I could pretend that I damaged myself on the way down to the pitch, somehow.

Suddenly, someone threw themselves down next to me with enough force to knock me sideways. My ribs flared and I swore, loudly. I turned to see who it was, biting back tears of pain.

Malfoy, of course. He looked concerned and very, very angry.

'Malfoy, fuck off.' I said, holding my side as the pain subsided.

'I will do no such thing,' he said. 'You're hurt, again. It isn't a coincidence. There are times when not telling is brave, or honourable. This is not one of those times. This is stupid and ridiculous and masochistic.'

I hesitated. 'Malfoy, you're being…weird, about this.'

He reached out and took the hem of my shirt. For some reason, I didn't stop him as he pulled it up a few inches and looked at my ribs. He gently touched my bruise, his fingers cool against my swollen, hot skin. He let my shirt drop again and met my eyes with his flat grey ones. He held out his hand.

'Come on. Go to the hospital wing; I'll say I did it.'

'But you didn't.'

'Doesn't matter.' I took his outstretched hand, instinctively. He helped me to my feet, and I let his hand go.

We walked up to the hospital wing side by side, slowly and silently. I felt strange; it all felt surreal, dreamy, like that twilight time between waking and sleeping.

I went into the hospital wing, feeling kind of muzzy, Malfoy only a step behind me.

'I feel kind of dizzy. I think I'm going to sit down,' I said, and sat carefully on one of the beds. It wasn't the sort of dizzy you get when you're about to pass out, it's the sort of dizzy you get when you're half asleep but don't want to stop talking to someone.

I was dimly aware of Malfoy explaining something to Madame Pomfrey, something about arguing and falling and banisters, but I wasn't really listening. I was aware of Madame Pomfrey coming over and pulling up my shirt with her freezing cold hands and poking at my side so that it really hurt. 'Ouch.' I said, distantly.

'Ouch, indeed!' she huffed. She went to her potions store, muttering about incautious students falling into banister ends. _Oh,_ I thought. _So that's how he explained it._

She poured out a measure of clear liquid and I drank it, then she laid her wand on top of my bruise and muttered something.

I had had bones healed by magic before, but never ribs. It felt kind of creepy, like cracking your knuckles times a million as everything knit together, then settled. The matron made me drink another potion and then let me go, telling me to be more careful. The second potion cleared my head, somewhat, and I left, closing the door neatly behind me.

Malfoy was in the hallway, leaning up against the wall.

'You okay?' he asked.

'Fine. You?'

'All right.'

We walked back down to the Great Hall together and sat at our respective tables, backs towards each other, not saying a word, each in their own thoughts. The hall slowly filled up around us, and their chatter filled the silence, but somewhere deep inside, I saved that dreamy silence. I can pull it out now, when times get hard and I just need to take a deep breath and remember that somebody cares.

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That day passed, better than the one before but not particularly brilliant. I know I went to classes, but I can't think what I learned. I wrote a letter to my mother, reporting that everything was great.

Which I wasn't actually sure was so much of a lie. Sure, my boyfriend kept freaking out and hitting me and I was too fucking scared to dump him, but my grades were good. My cousin/best friend was pining after a straight guy, but I'm Head Girl. And I may or may not be insanely, crazily, spinning-out-of-control-edly confused about Scorpius Malfoy, but I'm the best Keeper that Ravenclaw has seen in years.

My life blows.

After classes, I holed myself up in the library to study, in my favourite dark corner. At one point, someone wandered in, looking for a book. When I glanced up from my Arithmancy report, I saw that it was Malfoy.

'Hello, Mr. Malfoy,' I said. He turned, his book in hand. He tipped an imaginary hat at me.

'Good day, Ms. Weasley.' And then he was gone. I turned back to my homework, completely unperturbed.

I went to dinner and I suppose I ate, but I was still in a strange sort of fog. It almost felt like a transition, of sorts, like a mental version of a train tunnel, limiting your vision while taking you forwards. I just hoped that the light at the end of the tunnel was smiling at me.

I went through Quidditch practice in that haze, by now completely used to Chase's extra sweetness after an explosion, how he kissed me more and held my hand and called me pet names and brought me flowers. It still didn't make up for breaking my ribs.

After Quidditch, Chase and I began to trudge back up the hill towards the castle. He held my hand, and we chatted about Quidditch and our classes.

Suddenly, I stopped dead. He didn't realize at first, and then turned as I yanked my hand from his.

'What is it, doll?'

'Chase?' I said dreamily.

'Yeah?'

'You're an asshole. What kind of person does that to their girlfriend? What kind of sick, twisted person could beat on another person, for nothing?' My voice was still calm and level, saying these things matter-of-factly. 'What kind of coward beats on a girl who is smaller than him?'

His face twisted angrily and he balled his hands into fists as I spoke. 'I told you before. Don't call me coward!'

'But you are. You're nothing but a coward. You're just an overgrown baby.' I taunted.

He swung, like I knew he would, but I was ready for it. I ducked and ran at him, ramming my shoulder into his belly, knocking him to the ground. He got up, and I kicked him in the balls (which is low, but he deserved it), so he fell down again.

Now, I could feel my emotions again; my fear of him, and the way it had hurt, and the sadness, too, that someone could be that bad. I kicked him in the stomach again as he tried to get up, oblivious to the world as I knelt on his chest and hit him. I just let it go, just drove my fists into him again and again and again, until someone pulled me off of him. I didn't struggle, accepting that I'd been stopped.

Before I'd felt clouded, crowded out by my emotions. Now I just felt empty. I stared down at Chase, where he lay groaning in the dirt, and then I looked up at the person who had pulled me off of Chase, the person who still had me by the shoulders in case I tried to pull something crazy.

'How can someone who seems so good be so bad?'

He shrugged. 'Nature of the universe, I s'pose.'

I thought about this for a moment, then nodded. I looked back up at him. 'What're you doing here, anyways?'

'Rescuing you.'

'From what?'

He shrugged again. 'Yourself, I s'pose.' He looked down at Chase, lying on the ground, and shook his head. Then, Scorpius Malfoy put his arm around my shoulders and turned me away. Together, we walked back to the castle.

I lay in bed later that night, thinking about all that had happened in the last couple of months. It had been a whirlwind of a time, that was for sure, and I was still extremely confused.

**Please review!**

**Okay, so this is the last full chapter I have written right now. I have part of the next one done, and I'll finish it sometime this week, but almost all my time is being focussed on work and my novel right now, so I don't have much time to work on this. **

**But I will get the next one up this week. I don't want to leave you will all this angst for a month while I finish the novel.**

**And in your reviews, would you mind telling me if you'd read a book called 'Discovering Persephone'?**

**Ta, Elle  
**


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